CURRENT ENGLISH

Airline starts to weigh luggage and passengers
4th March 2024

HarderFinland’s national carrier
Finnair has started weighing
passengers on its flightsfrom the capital city ofHelsinki. The weigh-ins arebeing done on a voluntary basis and arecompletely anonymous.
A company
spokesperson said the new initiative is toensure safety standards on flights areadhered to. He said any airplane should notexceed the prescribed maximum weight forsafe takeoffs and landings. This weight ismade up of the aircraft itself, the fuel,checked baggage and cargo, all and onboard
catering, water tanks, and passengers.
Finnair said airlines never know the exact
weight of passengers and they’re carry-on
baggage, so they have to rely on average
estimates provided the aviation authorities.

Passengers who volunteer to be weighed are
stepping on weighing scales at the departure
gates at Helsinki Airport. Finnair officials
were initially concerned about cost timberbacklash because weight is such a personalissue. However, in the first week of the tests,
over 1000 passengers had agreed to beweighed. The company said: “We hope tohave a good sample of volunteers, bothbusiness and leisure travelers, so that we canget the most accurate information possiblefor important balance calculations.” it
added: “Our customers have taken it really
positively so far.” and officials said travelers
could “rest assured” and have “peace ofmind” that their weight would not be linked
to their personal data.

Sources: sky.com / theguardian.com
euronews.com / breakingnewsenglish.com/DISCUSS“It is wrong to weigh people before theyboard an airplane.” Do you agree ordisagree? Why (not)?

1CURRENT ENGLISHDISCUSS MORE

True / False
1) All passengers flying with Finnair must
now be weighed. T / F

1) What do you think of being weighed
before you fly?

2) Weight is important in ensuring safe
takeoffs and landings. T / F

2) Would you volunteer to be weighed?
3) Should passengers pay for their ticket
according to their weight?

3) The weight of an aircraft includes watertanks. T / F

4) What do you think of your nationalcarrier?

4) Airlines know exactly how much theirpassengers weigh. T / F5) How much do you worry about thesecurity of your personal data?

5) Finnair said it had no concerns about apossible costumer backlash. T / F

6) What do you think of flying?

6) More than 1000 passengers were
weighed in a week. T / F

7) Should there be more limits on theweight of baggage?

7) Finnair was not interested in weighing
business class passengers. T / F

8) What do you think of the airports?
9) What do you think of taking off andlanding?

8) The weight of passengers is kept entirelyconfidential. T / F10) What questions would you like to ask
Finnair?

Synonym Match(The words in bold are from the news
article.)Airplanes

1. carriera. comprised

2. anonymousb. retaliation

3. initiativec. precise_ Flying

4. made up ofd. unnamed_ Food5. exact

e. representative_ Flight crew

6. initiallyf. airline_ Legroom

7. backlashg. cross section_ Seat comfort

8. sample

h. details_ Other passengers

9. official

i.

scheme_ Reading material

10. dataj.

at first

Which is the best thing about airplanes?
Rank these items from 1 (top) to 8 (bottom).

_ In-flight entertainment2