Causing a Stink

It is a bizarre story, at least when you catch the first whiff of it - Flybe cabin crew, supported by some captains, have decided to boycott flights to and from Belfast that use the BAe 146 plane. They are complaining about unspecified "fumes".

While at first anything from cheap perfume to unwashed passengers tends to spring to mind, the fumes seem actually to be the aircraft's own product. And not only a nuisance but somehow dangerous. In a BBC documentary the "fume problem" was already highlighted. According to sources two Flybe crew have already collapsed due to fumes while one flight had to be abandoned after the crew had to use oxygen masks.

In a statement quoted by the "Irish Examiner" on October 22nd British Aerospace stressed that the BAe 146 was "one of the safest commercial aircraft in operation today" and that "cabin air quality on the BAe 146 continues to be better than the industry standard".

Meanwhile Flybe has announced that the aircraft type will not be used beyond February 2008 - a purely commercial decision in line with efforts to reduce the number of aircraft types in service. Until then anybody planning to fly with Flybe to Belfast should make sure his plane is not being boycotted.