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Flybe switches supplier of water for flight crew
Flybe has changed its supplier of water for its flight crew after its original brand was recalled last week.
The national supplier Flybe had used was forced to recall all bottles in circulation due to suspected microbiological contamination.
As a result, a number of flights were delayed last Wednesday evening.
Unite, the staff union, claims it had already alerted Flybe to problems with the water supplied to its flight crew, but said the airline had failed to take action.
Unite issued a statement claiming that on a number of occasions in the last year its reps had raised concerns about the water supplied to flight crews as they’d noticed on the labels that it contained high levels of sodium. They said they had asked the airline to consider changing supplier at a meeting.
It claimed its recommendations to change to a different brand were rejected due to the catering supplier wanting an additional two pence a bottle to change brands.
Unite regional officer Peter Coulson said: "Unite will now be working with Flybe to ensure that this problem is resolved and that water supplied to all crew members is safe."
In response, a Flybe spokesperson said: "We are surprised and concerned that Unite has not engaged with Flybe to determine the facts regarding this matter prior to contacting the media.
"The bottled drinking water that is supplied by us to our on-duty flight deck and cabin crew is a recognised, reputable and popular brand, sold widely in leading supermarkets and food outlets.
"On Wednesday (October 23) our distributor contacted us following the communication of a national product recall as a precautionary measure due to suspected microbiological contamination.
"We took immediate action and conducted a thorough risk assessment to determine any potential health and welfare risk to our crew. As a result there was a limited delay to the departure of some flights on Wednesday evening. All bottles of the suspected branded water were taken out of circulation and replaced with a different well-known brand.
"As a further precautionary measure, we have now changed suppliers and taken delivery of another well-recognised brand of bottled water for use by our crew."
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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