In-flight smoking to end

Press, 28 September 1988, Page 1

In-flight smoking to end

PA Wellington The Ministry of Transport’s Civil Aviation Division intended to ban smoking on all domestic flights by . commercial aircraft from July next year, said the controller of airline standards, Mr Barry Cranston, yesterday. The ban would be introduced after fire extinguishers and smoke detectors were fitted to aircraft toilets. This was necessary because overseas experience showed smokers tended to smoke in the toilets if banned from doing so in the passenger cabin. Mr Cranston said penalties for ignoring the ban might also be increased. Penalties had not yet

been considered, but after the introduction of similar regulations in Australia a $5OOO maximum penalty was put in place. The present maximum penalty for inflight smoking, if endangering aircraft safety, was six months imprisonment or a $lOOO fine. The smoking ban was being considered after similar moves overseas, and for health and safety reasons, Mr Cranston said. Smoking had caused aircraft fires in the past. The ban would not apply to international flights because it was considered unfair to ask smokers to abstain for more than 90 minutes.

Airlines had told the division they would go along with the ban. Ansett New Zealand, which will ban smoking from October 1, had beaten the gun, Mr Cranston said. An Ansett spokesman said the airline’s move had not been prompted by the division’s proposal, but by concern for the discomfort smoking caused to non-smoking passengers. About 80 per cent of passengers asked for non-smoking seats, he said. Air New Zealand had no plan to introduce a smoking ban between now and July, a spokesman said. However, it would happily comply with any nonsmoking regulations introduced.