Dubai - Emirates, the world's largest airline by international traffic, remains the only top carrier to scrap a West African route in response to the deadly Ebola outbreak as rival operators keep flying with heightened medical checks.
Emirates halted services to Conakry in Guinea, one of three states blighted by the epidemic, at the weekend. The Dubai-based company said that flights are suspended until further notice, citing guidance from authorities including the government-backed Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.
Among carriers with the greatest exposure to the region, Air France, British Airways and Brussels Airlines — Deutsche Lufthansa's main link there — are all continuing flights while screening departing customers. Air France, which serves most West African nations, has imposed special rules for people boarding in Conakry and Freetown, capital of Sierra Leone.
“Passengers must fill in a questionnaire when entering the airport lounge,” the Paris-based carrier said in a statement Monday. “They then have their temperature taken within the airport itself. They are only given their boarding card if no medical symptoms are present.”
The Ebola outbreak has infected at least 1 440 people since March, killing 826, the World Health Organisation said in the latest update. Still, the Geneva-based body hasn't issued a travel advisory on the disease and won't before an emergency committee meeting due Aug. 6-7, spokesman Gregory Hartl said.
Emirates said Monday it will assess its West African plans in light of feedback from the WHO and CDC. While the former has suggested the risk of visitors catching Ebola is minimal and that special screening isn't likely to prove helpful, the CDC has issued a level-three warning against travel to either Guinea, Sierra Leone or Liberia, the states hit by the disease. The Gulf carrier doesn't serve the latter two nations.
Emirates, whose focus on inter-continental travel means thousands of passengers change planes at its Dubai hub each day, said that services which used to call at Conakry on the way to Dakar will now fly directly to the Senegalese capital, which sits outside the Ebola-afflicted zone.
Brussels Air, in which Lufthansa, Europe's second-largest airline, has a 45 percent stake, is the only carrier from outside Africa that serves the three Ebola-hit nations, with flight-schedule data firm OAG showing the Belgian operator has about 2 000 seats on offer there between Aug. 4 and Aug. 10.
The airline is monitoring the situation in the three countries in close cooperation with the WHO and the Tropical Institute in Antwerp, as well as local authorities in Africa, spokeswoman Wencke Lemmes said. It has a combined 11 weekly flights to the three countries and 38 a week to Africa overall.
Air France said that its crews are conversant with procedures that apply when a passenger exhibits symptoms after boarding, with the customer to be isolated, given a face mask and directed to use a separate wash room.
Flight attendants must don gloves, use disinfectant gel, store waste in containers and make enquiries about other passengers who the person may have come into contact with. Parisian emergency services should then be contacted to meet the aircraft on touchdown.
British Airways, which offers flights to Liberia via Sierra Leone, said Monday that the services are operating as normal, though safety and security are the top priority and the company is continuing to monitor the situation closely.
Delta Air Lines, which serves Liberia, said customers whose flights are delayed or cancelled due to health checks will get a refund and that it's also waiving feels for those wanting to rebook flights, including connections to Freetown, Conakry and three locations in Nigeria.
The screenings are “a precaution, in response to reported viral activity,” the Atlanta-based company said.
In total, Conakry is typically served by 53 weekly flights, Freetown by 52 and Liberian capital Monrovia by 51, according to OAG data. Lagos and Dakar, to the east and west, are far bigger hubs, with 275 and 194 services respectively.
Lufthansa and KLM both said their closest destination to the Ebola zone is Lagos in Nigeria, so no route changes are due. Egyptair also has no direct exposure, though with services to Accra, as well as Lagos, checks are to be carried out in Cairo to screen for Ebola, swine flu and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus, or MERS-CoV.
Royal Air Maroc, which operates to Guinea and Liberia, said it would consider suspending flights only if the virus spreads in a noticeable way or afflicts a larger area.
“We cannot follow all airlines that suspend flights because we have to think of humanitarian needs,” RAM spokesman Abdelhakim Challot said by telephone of the Emirates decision to halt operations to Guinea. “Some people need this service. If airlines shut their flights the area will be isolated.” - Washington Post/Bloomberg
* Lundgren reported from London. Contributors: Richard Weiss in Frankfurt, Andrea Rothman in Toulouse, Makiko Kitamura in London and Mary Schlangenstein in Dallas.