British budget airline EasyJet has banned peanuts on all its flights, in the first step toward banning all nuts on its in-flight menus.
The move comes in a bid to protect passengers with nut allergies, with the airline stating it will both ban, and request passengers not consume, nuts on board flights.
“The safety and welfare of all of our customers and crew is our highest priority so we have a number of procedures in place to assist customers travelling with a nut allergy,” an EasyJet spokesperson told AFP.
“We ask that any customers with a nut allergy notify us ahead of travel and we will request that other passengers travelling on the flight do not consume any products containing nuts that they have brought with them on board.
“We have also stopped the sale of peanuts on board and will be removing the last product from our inflight range which contains nuts in the coming months.”
The move comes after several airlines around the world, including Qantas, Southwest Airlines, Lufthansa and British Airways, removed peanuts from flights.
Qantas does, however, still serve other nuts on its flights, including almonds, cashews and macadamia nuts as “bar snacks or after dinner snacks”.
Last month, a woman passenger with a nut allergy said she was forced to hide while wearing a face-mask in the bathroom of her Qantas flight, due to sliced almonds being served to passengers.
Laura Merry, a teacher from England, whose exposure to nuts could result in anaphylaxis, said she had informed the airline about her allergy months before flying.
