A second BA plane in a matter of days has been forced to make an emergency landing, this time in Porto.
The official line is that the incident was a due to a technical issue.
Say UK tabloids, the pilot insisted there was no truth in reports that the cabin had filled with smoke – as happened on a flight earlier this month from London Gatwick to Bari, in southern Italy.
But the BBC has been talking to former BA passengers who say they are still experiencing breathing problems from an incident on another flight (from London Heathrow to Valencia, in Spain) back in August.
Says the UK media source: “British Airways said it could not comment for legal reasons”. An investigation is underway and Spanish air accident investigators have yet to report.
But according to the BBC, pilots and cabin crew say they have no doubt that the incident on the flight to Valencia was a “fume event”.
The air you breathe on board virtually every model of airliner (except for the Boeing 787) is sucked in via the engines, where it is compressed, after which it flows into the cabin, explains the BBC.
If oil or hydraulic fluid leaks it can contaminate the air supply.
Bizarrely, these reports come in a year when there has been great concern over ‘smells’ that have caused nausea and vomiting on new Airbus 330 planes (click here), particularly those operated by Portuguese airline TAP.
The plane that made its emergency landing in Porto yesterday was an Airbus 320, described as carrying 167 passengers.
