Anticimex in Sweden was recently contacted by an airline who suspected that there were bed bugs in the employees’ sleeping cabin onboard on one of their modern airplanes. They needed help with detecting and treating the pest as soon as possible to avoid the airplane remaining grounded.

It was Anticimex’ proposal to use a dog for this since the airline wanted to know the size of infestation as well as exact location, to ensure it had not spread to the passenger part of the plane. Bed bug detection dogs have outstanding accuracy in identifying infestations. Recognizing the importance of getting the job completed quickly, the detection and treatment was completed within the same day.

 “We first searched in the reported area. The dog identified two infestations and our technicians were able to treat immediately on the marked spots. After that the dog searched the entire plane to ensure there were no other areas of bed bug infestation,” says Andreas Mattson, Sales Manager in Uppsala, Sweden.

He continues, “The client was really satisfied with this solution. We fulfilled all their wishes immediately without causing any airplane delays. This saved a lot of money for the airline. The working conditions for the crew were returned to normal. This, combined with the fact that they know that it was a successful treatment and that the entire plane was now free from bedbugs, was appreciated mostly by them.”

The next step is to have a follow up meeting with the airline. Anticimex will continue to work with the company to implement a preventative bed bug control program using bed bug detection dogs on their airplanes.