Inquiry call on flight ‘fume events’
The health effects of so-called “fume events” on airliners should be examined in a public inquiry, says the Unite general union.
Its call came amid warnings that there is insufficient monitoring and research into aerotoxic syndrome, which is believed to be caused by repeated exposure to fume events while in the air.
Unite general secretary Len McCluskey told ITV News that more needed to be done to understand illnesses caused by exposure to contaminated cabin air on jet aircraft and that airlines should be required to monitor air quality during all flights.
Unite has set up a helpline for its 20,000 cabin crew members and is establishing a fume-event register to monitor and collect data in response to mounting concern among them.
Unite said that since the 1950s, jet engines have been designed to take air from the engine and use it to supply the cabin.
McCluskey said that debate and discussion was needed to ensure that “manufacturers looking to the future of aviation start to develop new methods of producing aeroplanes.”