I think I can still squeeze into plane seat......

Cost of fat air passengers takes off
By Marcus Warren in New York
(Filed: 06/11/2004)

Fat Americans are eating into the US air industry's bottom line, forcing planes to consume ever more fuel to transport their bulk.

The average weight of Americans rose by 10lb during the 1990s and what a new survey called this "additional adiposity" caused airlines to use a further 350 million gallons of fuel in 2000, at a cost of £149 million. This is hitting the environment with an extra 3.8 million tons of carbon dioxide being released into the atmosphere.

Bankrupt United Airlines, America's second biggest air travel company, recently announced that it would spend £650 million more than expected on fuel this year because of rising oil prices.

To reduce the weight carried by their planes, airlines have dumped metal cutlery and large magazines and want to use lighter materials in seating. But passenger size is more difficult to control.

To howls of outrage from the country's "fat acceptance" lobby, Southwest Airlines has begun asking larger travellers to purchase a second seat.

"The obesity epidemic has unexpected consequences beyond direct health effects," said Dr Deron Burton of the US Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, which published the findings. "Our goal was to highlight one area that had not been looked at before."

America's eating habits have been blamed for a lower than expected rise in life expectancy and dearer health insurance but never before for contributing to the woes of a whole sector of the economy.

A commuter plane crash that killed 21 people in North Carolina last year has been blamed on the passengers' greater than average weight.