Passengers fume as Air NZ plane fumigated
An NZPA report says that passengers on an international flight from Fiji have been assured there is no risk to their health, after the plane was fumigated while they were still on board.
Two Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry officers boarded the Air New Zealand flight NZ21 from Nadi at Auckland International Airport yesterday morning and sprayed the interior as passengers sat in their seats, the New Zealand Herald reported.
A construction engineer said the MAF officers took about five minutes to fumigate the plane before leaving the passengers to sit in “a thick fog” as they sealed the door shut behind them.
“It was pretty concerning to see that and there were other passengers having to hold their noses and cover their mouths,” he said.
An Auckland man, who did not want to be names, said passengers were told it was a Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry requirement.
“It was like how they used to do things on planes about 20 years ago, but I still thought it was pretty strange,” he said.
The spraying left the man with a sore throat and caused a baby to gag and vomit.
Despite the man’s protests that the spraying was unusual, he said passengers were still given no good reasons for the fumigation.
He said he found out from one of the MAF officers, whom he bumped into while getting his bags, that the aircraft’s bio-security clearance had expired.
“The MAF guys were just doing their job but I think Air New Zealand should offer some kind of apology and get their act together, for God’s sake.
“If they want to charge like a first- rate airline then they should behave like one.”
Air New Zealand spokeswoman Di Paton said bio-security certificates on its aircraft did expire “very occasionally”.
But she said the airline did not consider it had made a mistake in terms of not having its bio-security clearances before passengers boarded, saying “these kind of things happen”.
MAF Biosecurity New Zealand spokeswoman Lesley Patston confirmed there was a “manual spraying” of flight NZ 21 yesterday morning.
“It’s unusual but not uncommon that this happens, put it that way,” she said. “But we can give assurances that it’s still safe in terms of passenger health.”
A Report by The Mole from NZPA
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