Galley Smell Spoils Pax Appetite

Fumes overtook some passengers and crew onboard a brand-new Qantas jet on Sunday night. The seven crew members and two passengers were in a stable condition after suffering nausea-like symptoms from fumes on a scheduled Melbourne to Perth flight. While airline food -- a rare commodity these days -- can be a sickening sight at times, this particular incident is attributed to fumes coming from the jet's galley. The pilot of the Airbus A330-300, which only began operating for Qantas early last month, opted to make an emergency landing in Adelaide about 1005 CDT.

Ambulance and fire crews awaited the emergency landing at the airport with medical staff rushing nine people to the Royal Adelaide Hospital. A hospital spokesman said the nine passengers did not suffer serious side effects from the fumes. He said they were in stable conditions and it was expected they would be released soon. A total of 274 passengers and 12 crew members were on board the plane.

Meanwhile, the airline is trying to find the source of the smelly problem. "Qantas engineers have begun investigating the cause of the incident, contact has already been made with Airbus as part of the investigation," the spokesman said. He said a Boeing 767 aircraft and another crew had travelled to Adelaide from Melbourne to carry all passengers on to Perth.

The Airbus A330-300 had just started flying for Qantas in early December 2003.

FMI: www.qantas.com