Investigation of cabin air quality in commercial aircrafts.

This project covered 16 aircrafts including both smoking and non-smoking flights from June 1996 to August 1997. The parameters concerned were carbon dioxide (C02), humidity, temperature, carbon monoxide (CO), ozone (03), bacteria, fungus, and respirable suspended particulate (RSP). Compared with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) standard, C02, CO and ozone levels on all flights were within such standards. Peak levels of C02 and particulate were observed during both boarding and deboarding periods. For the smoking flights, the average particulate level (138μg/m3) was much higher comparing with the non-smoking flights (7.6 μg/m3). Low humidity in long haul flights caused uncomfortable conditions to the cabin crews. The average temperature was within the range of 23+/- 20C.