Airlines seek changes to US passenger declarations over Ebola concerns

Several large airline groups have petitioned the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention to revisit new Ebola-related requirements for travelers to the United States, saying the tight deadline to implement the requirements could drive up costs.

The International Air Transport Association and Airlines for America asked the CDC to rescind the requirement in separate letters to the agency, Reuters reported. The new rules are set to begin Nov. 3. They state passengers and crew on flights headed to the United States must declare that they have not been in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in the past three weeks.

“In our view, it is unfair of the US administration to demand that each airline operating to the US should adapt its procedures to facilitate the collection of attestations from each individual (passenger and crew) travelling to the United States in less than two weeks,” IATA wrote in its letter.

Airlines for America said it could not be implemented in the available timeframe and due to the scope of the requirements for changes to check-in systems, digital signatures, airport processes and training for personnel. It said the standards were “overly stringent, costly and burdensome”.

The groups also demanded to know why the proposal would govern air travel but not other types of transportation including ships and vehicles. Airlines for America said it supported an exemption for crew members, military personnel and passengers who sit in cockpit jump seats.

The limits are intended to stop the deadly virus from reaching the United States as the United States is dealing with a deadly outbreak of that same Bundibugyo variety in Africa.