The precise steps in cleaning an airline cabin depend upon many factors, such as the time the plane will be on the ground and whether the flight is domestic or international. |
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
How Airlines Clean Planes So Quickly
BY PATRICK J. KIGER
If you're a
passenger on one of the more
than 10 million scheduled passenger flights that depart from
U.S. airports each year, you may barely even
notice the crew of cleaning workers who hurry onto the airliner after your
flight, in order to get the cabin ready for the next group of passengers who'll
soon be boarding.
Nevertheless,
cleaning airliners is a crucial part of air travel, and not just because it
makes it more pleasant for passengers to spend several hours in a relatively
crowded, confined space.
It's also
important for passengers' health to remove refuse and clean dirty surfaces that
might harbor germs that could make people sick.
"Airlines
work continuously – both between flights and overnight – to provide a clean and
comfortable cabin area for their passengers," Vaughn
Jennings, a spokesperson for Airlines for America, an industry group, says
via email.
It's a job
that has to be accomplished in a matter of minutes, given the quick turnaround
times that airlines have to meet, and it takes a systematic, highly-organized
effort to get it done.
"The
cleanliness of an airline cabin is about both function — health and safety — as
well as the overall passenger experience," John Alford,
vice-president of cabin appearance for ABM Aviation,
which cleans close to one million airplane cabins each year for airlines in
the U.S. and Europe, explains in an email.
"A great
deal of attention is placed on disinfection of food prep areas, lavatory high
usage areas, seat eating areas – tray tables – and the aircraft's overall
appearance."
These days,
cleaning companies use sophisticated software and wireless devices to track
when planes arrive and determine what sort of cleaning they need, and to dispatch
crews and follow their progress, as this 2015 BBC story details.
ABM's team
leaders, for example, each carry a hand-held device that gives them all the
pertinent information on the particular plane they're about to clean.
"Our
technology allows us to look deeper into just-in-time manpower
allocation," Alford explains.
"We can
dispatch employees as the plane gets there."
The precise
steps in cleaning an airline cabin depend upon many factors, such as the time
the plane will be on the ground and whether the flight is domestic or
international.
"Short-haul
or domestic flights typically return to the skies quickly, so there's less time
to clean these planes than those used for international flights," Alford says.
To deal with
that variation, ABM has three different types of cleaning operations, according
to Alford.
· Turn clean: "This clean is
designed to accommodate an aircraft that will 'turn' and leave again
quickly," Alford says.
"These
cleans are generally light cleans with a focus on galley areas, lavatory
cleanliness and trash removal from the cabin and passenger areas."
· Overnight Clean: "This clean is
performed on aircraft that have flown all their routes for the day and are to
remain overnight, generally between 8 to 10 hours," Alford says.
"This
clean is enhanced with a larger focus on the customer areas in and around
seats, while continuing to also clean the galley and lavatory areas."
· Deep Clean: "This clean is a
detail clean, much like you would see performed on a car," Alford
says.
"The seat
areas and many surfaces are removed to expose the inner workings of the seat,
compartments, cabinets and storage areas. Some airlines have specialized
equipment that helps with a deep clean."
Depending upon
the clean type and the particular airline's specifications, it may take between
five and 12 people equipped with cordless vacuums and disinfectants to get the
job done.
They move
through the plane in a systematic fashion.
"Each
team member is assigned a task to complete, per our internal process
flows," Alford explains.
The toughest
jobs are the turn cleans, because the amount of time it takes for passengers to
get off the plane can vary, and planes sometimes arrive behind schedule,
putting the cleaning crews under even more time pressure.
"When
planes are late, we look to increase the manpower onboard, which allows us to
complete the required functions, without affecting the passenger
experience," Alford says.
Another
challenge for cleaning crews is dealing with the possessions that travelers
sometimes inadvertently leave behind on planes.
"Any
found items go through a specific chain of custody process, which engages the
individual who finds the items, the crew leader and the airline partner," Alford
explains.
"Items
are logged, contents recorded if needed — e.g. everything within a found purse.
A photo is taken of the item, and then the item is signed for and taken over by
the airline. From electronics to personal items, the cleaning team finds items
that go to the airlines' lost and found every day."
NOW THAT'S INTERESTING
Airlines are taking extra precautions to clean their planes during the coronavirus pandemic. Delta Airlines says its cleaning crews are required to complete a 19-point checklist, which includes disinfecting cabin surfaces, seats, seatback pockets, tray tables and floors. The airline also began fogging all plane interiors with an EPA-registered disinfectant and virucide that is effective against many communicable diseases on all transoceanic flights.
Patrick
J. Kiger
has written for HowStuffWorks since 2008 covering a wide array of topics, from
history and politics to pop culture and technology. He worked as a newspaper
reporter for the Pittsburgh Press, and the Orange County Register in California,
where he covered one of the biggest serial murder cases in U.S. history, and
also as a staff writer at Baltimore Magazine. As a freelancer, Patrick has
written for print publications such as GQ, Mother Jones and the Los Angeles
Times, and on the web for National Geographic Channel, Discovery News, Science
Channel and Fast Company, among others. In recent years, he's become
increasingly interested in how technological advances are altering urban life
and the design of cities, and has written extensively on that subject for Urban
Land magazine. In his spare time, Patrick is a longtime martial arts student
and a fan of crime fiction, punk rock and classic Hollywood films.
https://science.howstuffworks.com/transport/flight/modern/airlines-clean-planes-quickly.htm
No comments:
Post a Comment