Abstract
The travelling population is increasing globally year on year. International tourist arrival figures reached 1087 million in 2013 and 1133 million in 2014; of which 53% and 54% respectively accounted for air transport. The water on board aircraft is sourced from surface or ground water; piped to a central filling point and distributed to each aircraft by water service vehicles at the home base or at the destination airport. The purpose of this study was to ascertain the microbial, chemical (pH; Total and Free chlorine) and physical (temperature) quality of water from two aircraft, long- and short-haul, as well as from the original water source and the water service vehicle. A total of 154 water samples were collected and analysed. Long-haul flights were found to be significantly poorer in terms of microbial quality than short haul flights (p = 0.015). Furthermore, correlation and regression analysis showed that the water service vehicle was a significant source of increased microbial load in aircraft. Microbial diversity was also demonstrated, with 37 bacterial species identified belonging to eight classes: γ-Proteobacteria; β-Proteobacteria; α-Proteobacteria; Bacilli; Actinobacteria; Flavobacteria; Sphingobacteria and Cytophaga; using phenotypic and 16S rDNA sequence-based analysis. We present a novel quantified study of aircraft-related potable water supplies.
Highlights
IntroductionInternational tourist numbers worldwide have grown significantly since the middle of the 20th century, with 1087 million travelers in 2013 alone, 53% of which travelled via air transport, as seen in
International tourist numbers worldwide have grown significantly since the middle of the 20th century, with 1087 million travelers in 2013 alone, 53% of which travelled via air transport, as seen in36.4 million scheduled flights from 3864 airports [1]
35% and 100% (x = 72.1% S.E = 2.42). This fluctuation in water level demonstrates that a mixture of water samples were taken, some prior to and some post-filling at the home-base for long-haul aircraft and predominantly post-filling for short-haul aircraft
Summary
International tourist numbers worldwide have grown significantly since the middle of the 20th century, with 1087 million travelers in 2013 alone, 53% of which travelled via air transport, as seen in. 36.4 million scheduled flights from 3864 airports [1]. This trend is set to increase further, with forecasted growth of 3%–4% for 2015 and up to 1,800 million arrivals by 2030 (Table 1) [2]. 3%–4% Growth Forecast Reference [2] [3].
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