Airports support EU co-ordinated response on Ebola

In the midst of the ongoing Ebola outbreak in West Africa, rising public concerns about its potential spread and an evolving array of national responses in Europe, the European airport trade association ACI EUROPE, today underlined its support for urgent co-ordination between health authorities at EU level.

Such co-ordination should involve clear and unequivocal communication of risk assessment as regards the possible spread of the virus in Europe. This is what the public - in particular air passengers - expect. This is also what is needed to allay any unreasonable fear and avoid inefficient measures.

In this regard, ACI EUROPE notes that the WHO (World Health Organization) and the ECDC (European Centre for Disease Prevention & Control) have expressed reservations about the effectiveness of temperature screening of passengers on arrival - which has been implemented in the US & Canada and is apparently being contemplated by some EU countries. Conversely, both organisations support exit screening of departing passengers - which began at airports in the three main affected African countries, in the past two months.

ACI EUROPE Director General Olivier Jankovec said: “Health security is paramount and we trust that in their meeting later this week, Health ministers will ensure that actions are properly thought through and fully coordinated across Europe and beyond. Otherwise, we risk ending up with an inefficient patchwork of measures, with negative implications for passengers and airport operations – for an unspecified period of time and with no guarantee of success.”

He added: “A clear, efficient and fully coordinated response at EU level is the way forward. Europe’s airports support a dual approach – 1. Supporting efforts to contain & eradicate the virus at source and 2. Communicating effectively to the public the measures that are being put in place and what they need to do, to play their part and stay safe.”

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