Union applauds Easyjet over installation of cabin air filters

The UK's largest union Unite called on the entire airline industry to follow Easyjet's "safety first" lead by installing air filtration units on board all aircraft in an effort to reduce the risk of air contaminated by toxic fumes entering aeroplane cabins

National officer for civil aviation at Unite, Oliver Richardson said, "Unite's cabin crew members have long-standing concerns about exposure to toxic cabin air and the effects of the contaminated air they breathe on planes on their health."

Unite, which represents more than 25,000 cabin crew working for British airlines had been calling for air filters to be fitted to aircraft as part of a campaign on air quality and exposure to toxic cabin air, describing Easyjet's move to do so as a potential "game-changer."

"This potential game-changing 'safety first' move by Easyjet to fit cabin air filters is an acknowledgement of the growing concern among cabin crew and passengers about fume events and the air that they breathe while flying," said Richardson.

The union is currently pursuing around 90 legal cases at the behest of both former and present cabin crew of multiple UK airlines that had suffered from some form of fume event or toxically contaminated cabin air.

Howard Becket, Unite's assistant general secretary for legal services, said: "It can no longer be swept under the carpet and there is still a need for an independent inquiry so that the dangers of toxic cabin air and fume events can be fully assessed in an open forum."

Easyjet's decision to install the cabin air system with the filters was the first time a member of the aviation industry had admitted concerns over "aerotoxic syndrome," which had been linked to the deaths of pilots and crew members, not to mention hundreds of incidents where pilots had fallen ill, sometimes behind the controls.

Tristan Loraine, a former British Airways captain who claimed toxic cabin air had forced him from his job, said, "This is the first public acknowledgement by an airline of a problem which this industry, including my own airline, has spent decades denying. I congratulate Easyjet for having the vision and courage which no other airline had."

Easyjet said that its decision to fit the filters was in no way an indication of its position on aerotoxic syndrome, which it said remained "an area of scientific uncertainty."