Air Namibia sends bed bugs on Boeing 747 flying

AIR NAMIBIA’S recently sold Boeing 747-400 Combi has been declared bug free after pest killers destroyed a colony of bedbugs found on seat 38 last week.

The plane is due to be delivered to its new owners – a middle-eastern royal family – on August 31. Air Namibia’s General Manager for Operations, Andre Compion, said the airline reacted immediately when the bed bugs were detected.”Of course, we can’t ask passengers to strip so that we can check them for bugs,” he told The Namibian.Compion said they had had the whole plane fumigated by professionals.The plane had to be sealed for eight hours while the insecticide filtered into all corners of the plane.”We take something like this very seriously,” Compion said.To ensure that no bugs would bite, Air Namibia called in a second pest controller to confirm the eradication.”This was definitely the end for those freeloading little lice,” said an employee the company, who asked to remain anonymous.”Some passenger on seat 38 left his friends on board and they have been travelling without tickets.We don’t allow that sort of thing,” she joked.Michael Demtschuk, of Rentokil in Windhoek, said you could pick up bed bugs when camping and that they travelled along in a jacket or sleeping bag.Bed bugs need human blood to fertilise their eggs and some people are allergic to the bites.”In tropical countries they can carry diseases, but mostly they are just a nuisance and disturb your sleep,” said Demtschuk.Bugs on aeroplanes are uncommon, say pest controllers, although cockroaches sometimes hitch rides on food trolleys boarding planes.Air Namibia’s aircraft are “de-roached” once a week and the kitchen at Hosea Kutako airport is regularly fumigated.Air Namibia’s General Manager for Operations, Andre Compion, said the airline reacted immediately when the bed bugs were detected.”Of course, we can’t ask passengers to strip so that we can check them for bugs,” he told The Namibian.Compion said they had had the whole plane fumigated by professionals.The plane had to be sealed for eight hours while the insecticide filtered into all corners of the plane.”We take something like this very seriously,” Compion said.To ensure that no bugs would bite, Air Namibia called in a second pest controller to confirm the eradication.”This was definitely the end for those freeloading little lice,” said an employee the company, who asked to remain anonymous.”Some passenger on seat 38 left his friends on board and they have been travelling without tickets.We don’t allow that sort of thing,” she joked.Michael Demtschuk, of Rentokil in Windhoek, said you could pick up bed bugs when camping and that they travelled along in a jacket or sleeping bag.Bed bugs need human blood to fertilise their eggs and some people are allergic to the bites.”In tropical countries they can carry diseases, but mostly they are just a nuisance and disturb your sleep,” said Demtschuk.Bugs on aeroplanes are uncommon, say pest controllers, although cockroaches sometimes hitch rides on food trolleys boarding planes.Air Namibia’s aircraft are “de-roached” once a week and the kitchen at Hosea Kutako airport is regularly fumigated.