Qantas' cardboard meal boxes catch alight and smoulder in aircraft ovens

Cardboard meal boxes for Qantas economy passengers have been found smouldering in ovens at the back of planes and on one occasion caught alight. In an incident just over 2 weeks ago, flight attendants discovered flames in an oven on a Qantas 737 aircraft just 5 minutes after they had begun heating cardboard boxes full of food. The cabin crew used a fire extinguisher on the food which they had heated at the correct temperature of 275 degrees Celsius. The plane was on the ground at the time in preparation for take-off. Flight attendants have been taking scores of photographs of scorched boxes for the past few weeks to document their concerns. The Flight Attendants Association of Australia had been demanding for several weeks that the airline remove the affected cardboard boxes from service and carry out an independent review. <br/>