Samoa Air says its program is the world's first fare structure that charges only by weight.
Earlier this month Samoa Air made headlines for becoming the first carrier to charge passengers according to their weight.
Samoa Air, which launched in June, flies regularly between Samoa and American Samoa, along with a handful of domestic flights.
Customers of this airline also have few, if any, other flight options, making Samoa Air well poised to adopt the policy.
For a tiny carrier like Samoa Air, the fare model seems reasonable, according to airline analyst Vaughn Cordle, a partner at Ionosphere Capital.
"It's a pay by weight system and it's here to stay, " Samoa Air Chief Executive Chris Langton told The Wall Street Journal Wednesday.
Passengers booking online with Samoa Air are asked to provide their approximate weight and that of their luggage before being given an estimated fare.
As the Samoa Air news broke, researchers in Samoa had just begun their second Steps survey, following up their first effort, in 2002, which studied nearly 3, 000 adults.
So Samoa Air will let a few kilos slide, but the airline is unlikely to provide a refund if passengers roll up to the tarmac with a lighter load.
Still, while this pay-as-you-weigh method may prove effective for a small commuter operation like Samoa Air, some analysts question whether the model would make business sense for large commercial carriers.
He noted that while a 160-kilogram person on Samoa Air will pay four times as much as a 40 kilogram person, the airline would ensure more space for the bigger passenger.
While Samoa Air's model could prompt a shake-up in the profit-starved industry, many of the world's airlines have so far been reluctant to capitalize on passenger weight because of discrimination concerns.
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