geoff dixon - Orient Aviation

49TH ASSEMBLY OF PRESIDENTS
Global health authorities
are working feverishly to
prepare for a potentially
disastrous flu pandemic.
With the experience of
SARS still fresh in their minds, airlines
are nervous, but they are more concerned
there may be over-reaction to the possibility
of an outbreak long before any real threat
emerges.
The Asia-Pacific’s major airlines have a
message for air travellers concerned about
the dangers of a global outbreak of Avian
Flu: do not panic.
For public health authorities around the
world, they have another piece of advice:
knee jerk reactions risk igniting public panic,
producing a very high, indirect economic and
social cost disproportionate to any public
health benefit.
The major worry for airlines is that
worldwide publicity, some of it highly
sensational, has given the travelling public
an exaggerated perception of the dangers of
Avian Flu.
“The actual situation today has very
little in the way of travel implications unless
you happen to be in the poultry farming
business,” said Association of Asia Pacific
Airlines (AAPA) director general, Andrew
Herdman.
“There is no reason for concern among
the travelling public unless you are going to
a poultry farm in affected areas, or shipping
live birds. Other than that it is business
as usual and there is no reason to think
otherwise.”
The AAPA passed a resolution at its
Avian Flu: airlines
fear over-reaction
Assembly of Presidents which called for
governments, health authorities and the
media to “act responsibly during health
related crises” and said the current outbreak
of the H5N1 Avian Flu virus has caused
widespread fears of a human flu pandemic,
even though it has been categorized by the
World Health Organisation (WHO) as being
in Phase 3 of their contingency planning
framework. This means it is an infectious
disease, but without evidence of human-tohuman
transmission.
The call for calm came just days after
the World Bank assessed the potential
economic impact of an Avian Flu pandemic
would be around US$800 billion. The AAPA
Assembly also heard a call from James
May, president and chief executive of the
Air Transport Association (ATA), the body
representing U.S. airlines, that the possibility
of a pandemic should be taken seriously. It
made sense for airlines around the world to
develop plans to contain and respond to any
threat, he said.
However, he also cautioned against overreaction,
and said experts in the field “tell us
we are not likely to see a widespread outbreak
of Avian Flu in humans this year”. He pointed
out the population of the planet is 45 billion,
but there have only been about 130 confirmed
cases of human Avian Flu.
May said there would be people boarding
aircraft travelling to and from Asia who will
display symptoms of flu, but will not have
Avian Flu.
Herdman said Asian airlines are working
on contingency plans in the same way as they
would prepare for any other unexpected or
undesirable event, whether they were air
disasters, terrorist attacks or other crises.
“You do contingency planning, but you do it
in the context of knowing it is a hypothetical
issue. In terms of the human flu pandemic, it
may not be bird flu related. It may simply be
a form of human flu pandemic.”
Governments needed to be aware of the
need to maintain the public’s confidence
and to accelerate international contingency
planning measures without igniting public
panic disproportionate to the actual risk
level, said the AAPA’s resolution.
They should also be aware of the
implications when issuing travel advisories
and avoid adopting arbitrary measures with
the potential to cause unnecessary disruption
to normal economic and social activities.
Members of the AAPA executive committee, Cathay Pacific, Japan Airlines, Singapore Airlines, Philippine Airlines
and Malaysia Airlines and Secretariat officials address the media during the assembly
16 ORIENT AVIATION DECEMBER 2005-JANUARY 2006