Ebola virus in West Africa: To fly or not to fly? (from Airline Leader Weekly, 1-Oct-2014)

Eight airlines have withdrawn all or part service to Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia since the Ebola outbreak accelerated five weeks ago, Brussels Airlines and Royal Air Maroc maintain service to all three capitals

This report is extracted from Airline Leader Weekly of 1-Oct-2014, delivered exclusively to industry CEOs.

It looks at the risks and likely outcomes for the airline industry stemming from the 2014 Ebola outbreak, such as how it compares with the 2002/03 SARS outbreak.

Largest Ebola outbreak in history, could last over one year and see infections quadruple form current count

Guinea (population 11.5 million), Liberia (population 4 million) and Sierra Leone (population 6 million) have been unable to stem the contagion due to the dismal state of their health infrastructure and various social factors. Accounting for underreporting, the CDC estimates in a worst-case scenario the virus could infect between 550,000 and 1.4 million by 20-Jan-2015, based on current trends.