A poll by Reuters has confirmed fears in the aviation industry. More than half of Americans are avoiding international air travel as a result of the Ebola virus spread. This will likely be the next major phenomenon to cause a slowdown in international air travel since the financial meltdown of 2008. Ebola has already claimed 4000 lives mainly in western Africa. The death and infection of American and Spanish nationals in their respective countries has led to the emergency crisis management by no less the Whitehouse. These new infections resulted from health care professionals treating the passengers who had travelled from West Africa.
Despite US maintaining banning air travel will only amplify the crisis. St Lucia a Caribbean island has banned all flights from Ebola hit countries especially those in West Africa. This could potentially mean flights from the US and Spain. The island claims it doesn’t have the resources to deal with the crisis if it actually comes calling.
Air France on Friday were disinfecting a plane in Madrid airport after it emerged that one of its passengers had symptoms of the deadly disease. Other passengers on the flight had disembarked at Barajas International airport where emergency services had been put in place to accommodate the situation. Air France the only major airline still flying to the Ebola hit countries says it is not going to stop flying to these countries. They have put measures to protect the airline crew and ensure those who board are free of the deadly disease.
Airlines such as British airways and Emirates airways are some of the major airlines that have made it public that they have suspended flights to western Africa. This is among a host of other smaller airlines such as Asky, Kenya airways and Ethiopian airways, all African airlines.