US Airways is retrofitting its Airbus A321 fleet with high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters by the end of the year.
The airline has contracted Donaldson's Aerospace and Defense group (H1/C16), headquartered at Bloomington in Minnesota, to supply the carbon-based chemical filters for its 57 narrowbodies.
Donaldson expects to gain supplemental type certification of its "air purification system" on the A320 "within a year".
The filters remove dust particulates, allergens, bacteria, viruses and odours from cabin air, the manufacturer adds.
"Odours were reduced by more than 60% within the first two minutes of our tests," says Joe Maloy, director of US Airways' aircraft acquisition and propulsion engineering group. "Within 12 minutes, the odours were gone."
Retrofit work began in April and is due to be completed in the fourth quarter of this year.
Source: Flight Daily News
