A former Qantas chief economist called for overweight passengers to pay an extra surcharge to fly on Australian airlines.

Tony Webber, who spent seven years with Qantas, said overweight passengers should be responsible for extra fuel costs incurred by the airlines. Mr Webber said the controversial proposal is a potential solution for airlines trying to reduce fuel costs due to an increase in jet fuel prices.

“When the passengers weigh more, or where there’s extra weight on the aircraft, that generates more fuel burn and higher fuel costs,” he said. On the upside, Mr Webber said thinner people should get a discount of ticket prices, as well as heavier people without luggage.

“You’d have to work out the total weight of the baggage and the person and then have a critical weight, say 90 kilos or 100 kilos, above which you’d impose a surcharge.” Mr Webber had previously pitched the idea to Qantas, though the airline gave almost no consideration to his proposal. Mr Webber admits charging overweight passengers extra, could be humiliating for some.

“For some people it would be humiliating, awful, and so that clearly would have some impact on the brand of the airline,” he said.

Neos Kosmos