British Airways has trialled a new method of reducing turnaround times for their flights – by skipping a full aircraft clean between flights.

Trialled over a period of four days on flights between London Heathrow to Dublin, any rubbish found in seat pockets and in overhead lockers continued to be removed as usual by cabin staff, no extra cleaning tasks were carried out inside the cabins – not even in the toilets.

A senior manager would then perform a quick quality check before allowing passengers to board, while a cleaning crew were on standby in case the aircraft did not come up to standard and required a full clean.

BA claims that the trial was intended to look at ways of minimising turnaround times following severe disruptions, in order to minimise delays and make up for lost time. The airline claims to have received no customer complaints concerning the cleanliness of the trial flights, and has no plans to roll out more trials across its fleet.

Union officials are concerned that this trial could lead to BA’s managers expecting cabin crew to clean the aircraft in the future. Security could also be an issue if cleaners are not required to perform thorough cabin checks.