Come and meet the unsung heroes of the airline industry

Who are the real unsung heroes of the airline industry? Is it the pilot who lands the plane despite bad weather? The flight attendant who goes above and beyond caring for that couple with the baby? Perhaps it’s the people in maintenance, keeping aircraft safe with their attention to detail?

Another group of people stand out that are equally as important as those I just mentioned. The real unsung heroes are those working in Cabin Appearance, or, to use another word, the aircraft cleaners.

What Do These Unsung Heroes Do?

Every flown on a long haul flight? After landing, the aircraft cabin looks like it’s been hit by a cyclone with pillows strewn about, crumbs everywhere and blankets draped off seats.

Once an aircraft arrives, the cleaning team swings into action. Some collect large items such as pillows, blankets, empty bottles and so on, which are generally done first. All the cleaning of the galleys, toilets, tray tables, seats and carpets then occurs.

An important aspect is the security search, which the cleaners do as they go. KLM report in a blog post that test blocks are hidden in various places for the cleaning crew to find. All of them are usually found which means the searches are being done correctly.

Blankets and pillows are all taken to a laundry to be washed and reused, while rubbish is all taken off the aircraft in bags to be disposed of. Airlines like to fly their aircraft as much as possible so all of this is done with the clock ticking.

A Video About These Unsung Heroes

Can you handle a strong Irish accent? The good people at Aer Lingus Careers have produced a short video running for 1 minute and 30 seconds about their Cabin Appearance team and what they do. Check it out below.

http://player.vimeo.com/video/48019944

It certainly comes across as a physical, important and time constrained role. A person would need to have brains, brawn and stamina to consistently do this well.

Overall Thoughts

Aircraft cleaners are certainly the unsung heroes of the industry. While bloggers are critical of a tiny bit of schmutz remaining around their seat, the fact that planes are usually always clean is a testament to the efforts of the cleaning crew.

With seats on board, especially in premium classes, having all sorts of weird shapes, nooks and crannies, it’s amazing that more isn’t missed.

What do you think of the work of the cleaners? Unsung heroes or is another team better deserving of the title? Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.

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Featured image via ABM.