80% airline blankets are not washed
Updated: 2011-07-11 17:08
By Jia Xu (chinadaily.com.cn)
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 The blankets are placed on the ground inside the Yingtailong Airline Commodity in Liqiao town in Beijing’s Shunyi district on June 27, 2011.[Photo/Beijing Times] |
Airline passengers might have second thoughts before covering up with a blanket during their next flight.
An investigation by the Beijing Times has revealed that about 80 percent of non-disposable blankets that are used on one of China’s biggest airlines are reused without any disinfection measures.
As a source at Yingtailong Airline Commodity disclosed that most of the blankets they get from airplanes are not washed before being reused.
Reporters from the newspaper found that in a 400 square-meter factory, only three washing machines were functioning with around 30 workers.
Every day the company gets about 3,000 blankets from airline companies with only 500 to 600 actually get washed.Workers check the blankets and only those found to have visible stains are washed despite the airline company having a contract to clean all.
When asked why all the pieces are not washed, a worker explained "there’re only 3 machines, how could we wash them all?"
The airline, which was not named in the report, has launched an investigation to probe the company’s service work.
 Workers use washing machines after picking the blankets with visible stains inside the Yingtailong Airline Commodity in Liqiao town in Beijing’s Shunyi district on June 27, 2011.[Photo/Beijing Times] |
 A woman puts washed and unwashed blankets into plastic bags before sending them back to the airline company from the Yingtailong Airline Commodity in Liqiao town in Beijing’s Shunyi district on June 27, 2011.[Photo/Beijing Times] |