Disinfecting of aircraft cabins flying to India

[Al Fakhem]

Can anyone enlighten me as to why reputable international airlines flying to India succumb to what they describe as "Indian government regulations" and spray a disinfectant all over the cabin prior to landing at Indian airports?

Surely, given the dreadful standards of hygiene throughout most of India, it should be the other way round: countries should demand that planes originating from India be sprayed :confused:

Can it really be that the Indian government considers its country cleaner than the rest of the world?:ugh:

[TightSlot]

In certain cases, a nation will implement procedures that are purely retaliatory: These may include visa requirements, customs requirements, health requirements or or spraying. I don't know if this is the case with India (there may well be something important that I don't know about) but it is always a possibility.

[Globaliser]

Is it a disinfectant? I thought that spraying was usually of an insecticide. However "clean" or "dirty" a country may be, it may well be a good idea to try to stop the long-distance importation of foreign insects.

India is far from the only country that does this. Australia is the one that I encounter most often.

[lexxity]

IIRC Sri Lanka does this as you leave the country. I don't remember it being done on arrival.

[guest27]

.... it may well be a good idea to try to stop the long-distance importation of foreign insects......

Are u referring to the passengers?? :(

[sukigirl]

Im almost sure you mean 'disinsecting' the cabin Al F. I fly to india often and the crew will make a PA to say that they will pass through the cabin and spray insecticide.
its not just in india its done, its also done in africa among other countries,one of the reasons for this is of course malaria and not wanting to carry the infected mossies back to the uk. You will also find this is sprayed on leaving these countrys, but each country has its own regs.
Correct me if im wrong but i've never heard of spraying disinfectant around the aircraft.

[potkettleblack]

Never been to NZ then I am guessing? Happens all the time. A MAF bod will wander down the aisle spraying an aerosol can. The idea (for the kiwis at least) is to try and stop any nasty exotic bug getting loose and wiping out the agriculture industry.

[apaddyinuk]

I think the spray is great to ... ahem... suffocate the smell of certain customers who have taken their shoes off so it should be used on all flights with an offensive smell!!! :}

[Tarq57]

potkettleblack

This quaint Kiwi practice died out maybe 20 years ago. Rumour has it that it was due to complaints from tourists arriving from a certain North Pacific country- they said they felt insulted by this treatment. Sad. Don't know how many millions of dollars have been spent since then in futile attempts to exterminate many introduced pests.This has included aerial spraying over built up areas, with many adverse reactions reported by the people sprayed. (The moth seems to be doing fine.) Although, to be fair, some of the pests would have arrived in shipping containers.

[Middle Seat]

I recall this practice on my first trip to Australia back in 1986, but on my most recent journey I don't recall it happening, nor on either of my entries into New Zealand (one from Australia, one from the US).

I do believe that there may be some legitimate concerns warranting the use of insecticides in some countries. I also think it could be an effective retaliatory tool, when one country imposes silly requirements on another.

[Gouabafla]

They spray insecticide when leaving most countries in West and Central Africa. A good thing too. The thought of being trapped in a metal tube for eight hours with a bunch of hungry mosquitos is dreadful. Not to mention re-introducing the anopheles mossie to Europe.

[flybywire]

Is it a disinfectant? I thought that spraying was usually of an insecticide. However "clean" or "dirty" a country may be, it may well be a good idea to try to stop the long-distance importation of foreign insects.
India is far from the only country that does this. Australia is the one that I encounter most often.

Correct! Australia, Sri Lanka, Maldives, America, and even Mauritius used to (do not know now) and so on...

AlFakhem I am not aware of a disinfectant being sprayed in the cabin, it is usually a spray that kills mosquitoes and other insects....

There's a huge difference between disinfection and disinsection, I think you might have got a little confused there....

Here is a link for you with more information on the subject:

http://www.winterthurhealthforum.ch/PDF/malariaaricraftdisinfection.pdf
(even whoever wrote this document got a little confused in the title it seems!)

and:

http://www.talkmedical.com/medical-dictionary/4271/Disinsection

FBW:)

[potkettleblack]

Well it happened 3 years ago when I hopped off a SIA flight at AKL. I have no idea if it was a one off or not.

Here you go, the following FAQ implies that some deal was done with the airlines to ensure that the aircraft are sprayed before they arrive in NZ.

http://www.biosecurity.govt.nz/personal-travel-belongings-and-mail/arriving-by-air/frequently-asked-questions#spray

[flybywire]

Well it happened 3 years ago when I hopped off a SIA flight at AKL. I have no idea if it was a one off or not.

Here you go, the following FAQ implies that some deal was done with the airlines to ensure that the aircraft are sprayed before they arrive in NZ.

http://www.biosecurity.govt.nz/personal-travel-belongings-and-mail/arriving-by-air/frequently-asked-questions#spray

I do not think it's a one off, I think it's routine.

But what they sprayed is an insecticide, not a disinfectant :)

[potkettleblack]

As an aside I have always been amazed how different the approaches are across the world and how lax some seem to be. Come back to the UK and it appears open season. Compare that with the body scanners in Hong Kong which I presume are for SARS and spraying insecticide on arrival downunder and I am sure other measures elsewhere.

[Tolsti]

Came back in 1994 on Uzbekistan Airways from Tashkent. Landed at Heathrow and we were taken to a remote stand and Port Health came on. Apparently the plane had come from India prior to Tashkent and there was an outbreak of the plague at the time. We all had to fill in questionnaires and various foreign language speaking staff were there to speak to passengers.
Then along came this chap if what appeared to be a NBC suit and respirator and sprayed the whole cabin (and thus the passengers) with a vile smelling chemical. All the while he was saying '' Don't worry this won't affect humans''....
However he declined to take his suit and respirator off when challenged!!... I got rid of the clothing I was wearing as soon as I got to my hotel I can assure you.

[Globaliser]

As an aside I have always been amazed how different the approaches are across the world and how lax some seem to be.I think that every country has to take a view about what they're at risk from, and what measures might be effective in the circumstances of that country.

An isolated country like Australia can defend against the risk of inadvertently imported insects as there are few other ways for insects to arrive in the country, and has a reason to do so because its biological isolation means that imported insects could be devastating to the current ecology.

These considerations don't apply with such force in a place where the majority of insect importation will come - unstoppable - over land borders, or where the local ecology is well used to dealing with and adapting to new arrivals because it has long had to do so.

[Final 3 Greens]

Goubafla

Did you know that anopheles plumbeus is resident in Epping Forest?

Fortunately, not anopheles gambie.

[Tolsti]

IIRC some years ago the landlord of a pub in Horley (next to LGW) was found to be suffering from malaria. As he had not left the UK it was put down to a mozzie that had travelled in from abroad on the jacket of a flight crew member (BCAL?) several of which frequented his pub.

[Bangkokeasy]

The FAs sprayed insecticide down the aisles of the TG flight I took to London a few weeks back. Mind you, the Thais have a wonderful outlook on life; the spray stopped at the end of the J cabin. They must have assumed that no noxious bug would dare encroach on the F cabin!

[Carry0nLuggage]

Been travelling LHR-BLR recently and BA have always sprayed on the inbound leg. Once they sprayed on the outbound too, in February when the UK insect population so active :rolleyes:

[computer jockey]

I know that BA always spray the cabins of their aircraft departing India (at least from BOM). I think the announcment made at the beginning of the procedure mentions World Heath Organization regulations to prevent the spread of insect-borne diseases. God knows I've listened to it often enough! :rolleyes:

But I have never heard of them doing it on flights to India. They certainly didn't when I flew LHR to BOM last Friday.

[419]

Good memory Tolsti.
I was working in a pub in Horley at the time, (not the same one as the landlord affected, and remember hearing about it).
A quick "Google" found this.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/low/england/2222177.stm