Clearing the Air on Airplane Cabin Air

There are widespread concerns about the transmission of infectious disease in recirculated cabin air. Fear about the safety of air heightens whenever the possibility of a new emerging infection, such as SARS or Avian Flu, appears in the headlines.    

Pall cabin air filtration systems produce air that is microbially equivalent to outside air. Microbial challenge tests have shown that Pall cabin air filters have greater than 99.999% efficiency in bacterial removal and greater than 99.9995 in virus removal.

Understanding Aircraft Ventilation Systems

 

The ventilating air in aircraft cabins starts out as external ambient air, is drawn into the engine, compressed, cooled, and then flowed into the aircraft cabin. Single-pass systems: In older aircraft ventilation air passes one time through the cabin, and then is exhausted overboard Recirculated systems: current commercial aircraft regularly recirculate a portion of the cabin air to reduce fuel consumption costs Contact us to learn more about cabin air filtration

Learn About the Pall solution

• Pall Cabin Air Brochure 
• Pall Cabin Air Filtation Systems  
• Cabin Air Filtration – Current Technologies and Future Solutions
• Cabin Air Filtration – Helping to Protect Occupants from Infectious Diseases

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a HEPA filter? What is a ‘true HEPA’ filter? Are all commercial aircraft fitted with HEPA filters? When was the first HEPA filter put into service? What is the smallest particle size that the cabin air filter element can remove? Will the cabin air filters remove the SARS and Avian flu virus? How do the cabin air filters remove bacteria and viruses? Can the cabin air filters remove odors and VOCs / SVOCs? What is the recommended change-out interval? What regulations refer to filter needs and replacement schedules? What is the approximate cost of a HEPA filter? What happens if the cabin air filter elements are not changed out regularly? What testing has been performed on cabin air filters after they have been in-service? Is there a danger to the maintenance personnel by removing used cabin air filters?