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Samoa Air has the first airline in the world to fares on a passenger's weight. The national carrier of the South Pacific island nation has the traditional pricing model of asking fliers to for a seat and instead has to a price-per-kilogram structure. The airline domestically between the country's two main islands and has international flights to American Samoa and Tonga. Travellers a price of around US$1 per kilogram on shorter routes, and over US$4 on longer flights. Samoa Air CEO Chris Langton said the new initiative would health awareness in Samoa, which has one of the world's highest rates of obesity.

Reaction to the new pricing scheme has been . A spokeswoman from the New Zealand- campaign group Fight the Obesity Epidemic vehemently the new fares. She said: "I think that's absolutely appalling. It's a stigmatisation of people, and really, just powerfully discriminating." A Samoan community leader said he that weight was key for airlines. He the New Zealand Herald: "I 200kg. I would be okay to pay the fare, it's reasonable, but I don't think it's a good excuse that they're trying to promote healthy living - that's a lame reason." Many industry analysts other airlines will suit in overweight passengers extra.