This article appeared to today's Calgary Sun online edition:
Quoted message said:
Fri, November 5, 2004
Flabbier flyers fuel cost hike
By AP
ATLANTA -- Heavy suitcases aren't the only things weighing down airplanes
and requiring them to burn more fuel, pushing up the cost of flights. A new
U.S. government study reveals airlines increasingly have to worry more
about the weight of their passengers.
America's growing waistlines are hurting the bottom lines of airline
companies as the extra pounds on passengers are causing a drag on planes.
Heavier flyers have created heftier fuel costs, according to the government
study.
Through the 1990s, the average weight of Americans rose 10 pounds,
according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The extra weight caused airlines to spend $275 million US to burn 1.3
billion more litres of fuel in 2000 just to carry the additional weight of
Americans, the federal agency estimated in a recent issue of the American
Journal of Preventive Medicine.
"The obesity epidemic has unexpected consequences beyond direct health
effects," said Dr. Deron Burton of the CDC.
"Our goal was to highlight one area that had not been looked at before."
The extra fuel burned also had an environmental impact, as an estimated 3.8
million extra tonnes of carbon dioxide were released into the air,
according to the study.
The agency said its calculations are rough estimates, issued to highlight
previously undocumented consequences of the ongoing obesity epidemic.
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Bev