IATA urges airlines to keep flying to Ebola regions
The International Air Transport Association has urged airlines to continue airlift to and from Ebola ravaged regions in West Africa as more carriers cancel services.
A World Health Organisation advisory says air travel constitutes a ‘low risk’ for Ebola transmission and IATA has outlined the measures airlines need to take to safeguard passengers.
It says the airline industry only needs to screen passengers at airports located within infected areas, isolating suspected cases and disinfect aircraft.
“They have been very clear that travel and trade bans are unnecessary,” said Raphael Kuuchi, IATA’s vice president for Africa.
“However airlines are within their rights to take whatever cautionary measures they deem necessary,” Kuuchi said.
IATA made the comments after Kenya Airways, Africa’s third largest carrier, said it is discontinuing flights to Liberia and Sierra Leone.
This follows an earlier announcement that Korean Air Lines will stop operating to Nairobi from tomorrow.
Some of the airlines have taken a purely commercial decision not to fly, due to a dwindling numbers of passengers prepared to travel to the region.
Major carriers such as British Airways and Emirates have halted flights, along with regional airlines closer to the Ebola outbreak, including Gambia Bird, and Nigeria’s Arik Air.
WHO officials also said they will set up a travel and transport task force to discuss strategy and coordinate responses region-wide and globally.
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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