Qantas has banned its pilots from having handlebar moustaches, wearing backpacks and chewing gum.

The new dress standards form part of a new 23 page guidebook issued to pilots last week.

Airline industry expert Brian Wilson has told Ross and John, the rules around facial hair have been introduced for safety reasons.

‘On the flight deck you’ve actually got an EROS face mask, so if the plane actually has a decompression the mask on the pilot’s face actually is a full mask and literally sucks onto the face to create a full seal.’

‘Beards, whiskers and those sorts of things affect the seel, I suppose the last thing you want is the man in the front left hand seat turning blue.’ He told 3AW Breakfast.

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