Airline crew members from several different British airlines have launched personal injury claims against their employers claiming they have been poisoned by contaminated cabin air.

At least 17 former and current cabin crew staff who believe they are suffering from Aerotoxic Syndrome have today launched civil cases against their airlines, according to Unite the union.

Aerotoxic Syndrome is the term given to the illness caused by exposure to contaminated air in jet aircraft.

The cases were launched amid growing concern among airline workers about air quality.

In April Unite, which represents 20,000 flight crew members, launched a helpline for worried employees and the union announced today that 17 former and current cabin crew staff working for unnamed British airlines are taking up civil cases - and they expect to have many more members contact them in coming months.

A Unite spokesman said: ‘It is quite clear that the industry needs to do more to monitor the quality of cabin air.’

Unite has repeated its call for a public inquiry into the issue.

The airline industry has always maintained that incidents involving smoke or fumes on planes are rare, believing there was no evidence of long-term health effects.

But in April official safety figures revealed that pilots reported 167 cases of toxic cabin fumes or smoke in just four months.

Twelve of the cases resulted in the pilots requesting a priority landing, one flight was diverted and on two flights the pilots made an emergency Mayday call.

Among the worst cases, one incident report in February noted: ‘Fumes in cabin. Eleven of the cabin crew became unwell during flight, with symptoms of light-headedness, nausea and ‘sea sickness’. Oxygen administered. Aircraft returned.’

Unite claims that the airline industry has known about the issue since the 1950s - since that time jet engines have been designed to take air from the engine and use it to supply the cabin.

Today around half of the air on board commercial jets is drawn through the engines, so in the event of a leak fumes can end up inside the aircraft in what is known as a ‘fume event’.

Campaigners say when this fault occurs in the engine seals a cocktail of potentially poisonous gases can reach the cabin - including TCP, an organophosphate which is dangerous in high quantities and are most likely to create problems for frequent fliers and airline staff.

But a coroner has warned that if a pilot’s judgment is altered, every person on the plane may be at risk.

The union claims repeated exposure to ‘fume events’ causes Aerotoxic Syndrome.

Last month Unite called for a public inquiry into the health effects of ‘fume events’ on airliners and warned that there is currently insufficient monitoring and research into Aerotoxic syndrome.

Unite general secretary Len McCluskey said that more needed to be done to understand illnesses caused by exposure to contaminated cabin air on jet aircraft and that airlines should be required to monitor air quality during all flights.

McCluskey told ITV News that the union was also establishing a fume event register to monitor and collect data on fume incidents.

The union said it was responding to mounting concern among its members and was supporting the family of Matthew Bass through the inquest into his death.

A Civil Aviation Authority spokesman said: ‘UK airlines are legally required to report any potential safety incident including where fumes or smoke are detected on board an aircraft.

‘Although these incidents are rare, we take all reports very seriously and review them thoroughly to identify any safety issues or trends.

‘Several expert studies on the issue of cabin air quality have been carried out in recent years and the overall conclusion has been that there is no positive evidence of a link between exposure to contaminants in cabin air and possible long-term health effects - although such a link cannot be excluded.’

He added that the the European Aviation Safety Agency, which is responsible for approving the safety of aircraft and setting aviation rules across the EU, is also carrying out further research.

Since 1999, the air industry has denied a link between ‘fume events’ and medical problems. But a growing number of experts warn prolonged exposure is hazardous.

The Department of Transport has issued guidelines on the event which state the levels of chemical and biological contaminants in aircraft are often less than in many work environments - including office buildings.

However, it added that while the independent Committee on Toxicity completed a ‘substantial’ review of evidence in September 2007 and concluded that the evidence available did not establish a link between cabin air and pilot ill health - nor did it rule one out.

Last month an American Delta flight from Florida to New York filled up with thick, black smoke at 30,000 feet, forcing pilots to make an emergency landing in South Carolina.

Flight 2028 was travelling from Fort Lauderdale to LaGuardia Airport in New York City on Thursday afternoon when it experienced a problem with one of its two engines and an alarm started blaring.

The cabin quickly filled up with smoke, causing some of the flight’s 89 passengers to start crying and screaming. Mobile phone footage shows a thick haze of smoke inside the plane.

The aircraft’s pilots were forced to make an emergency landing at Charleston International Airport at 4.40pm. They landed the plane safely on the tarmac, where firefighters were waiting.

One passenger said: ‘I was so scared. I started to scream, dropping tears… There was smoke, dark, and like this, eyes burning.’

Another said: ‘I noticed a mist, then I realize it was smoke, I could smell the smoke. Then I looked back and it was dark… People were coughing, some people were crying.’