Can Carbon Footprint Reduction Go Too Far?

Posted on: December 5, 2010

Air travel is an industry that is facing numerous challenges in the emerging low carbon economy. The industry is thus looking at a wide range of actions to improve flight plans, maximize passenger loads, and reduce flight weights wherever possible. But is it possible for airlines to overstep their bounds in their quest for increased fuel efficiency?

Several months ago it was reported that All Nippon Airlines of Japan had instituted a pilot project where they were asking their passengers to visit the bathroom before boarding.

You might think that this project was implemented to reduce passenger disruptions and improve maneuverability for flight attendants. You thought wrong! All Nippon brass decided that a plane full of empty bladders (and colons too) would equate to a lighter payload which would require less fuel to fly. That’s right. The logic behind the empty bladder policy was to reduce the airline’s carbon footprint. 

In theory this plan actually could have a positive impact on a flight’s carbon footprint, albeit a minimal one. One article calculated that if every passenger on a fully booked flight went to the bathroom before boarding it would equal the weight of three grown men (however that assumes that all bladders were full, which is not a realistic assumption). 

It seems like a policy that encourages bathroom use is starting to cross the line into intrusion of personal space. It also is likely that the airline could easily have found another way to reduce the plane’s payload without facing the ridicule in the press or the backlash of irritated passengers. In the meantime, if you are flying All Nippon sometime soon, there should be fewer lineups for the bathroom.