Airline groups urge US CDC to reconsider Ebola declaration requirements

Major American and foreign airlines urged the US ‌Centres for Disease Control and Prevention to reconsider new rules requiring all US-bound travellers to attest they have not been in the Democratic Republic of Congo in the prior 21 days.

The International Air Transport Association and Airlines for America, in separate, previously unreported letters reviewed by Reuters, urged the CDC to reconsider the plan announced last week that takes effect on November 3 and aims to prevent entry by people exposed to Ebola.

"It is unreasonable for the U.S. government to require all airlines serving the ⁠U.S. market to modify their procedures to accommodate the collection of attestations from each individual (passenger and crew) flying to the United ​States in less than two weeks," IATA, which represents over 370 member airlines in more than 130 countries, said in the letter ​dated Tuesday.

The new CDC order requires all US-bound airline passengers and crew members to file digital or paper attestations. The CDC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Airlines for America, which represents United Airlines, American Airlines, Southwest Airlines and Delta Air Lines, said in a separate letter ​to the CDC that the plan was unworkable.

"Changes to check-in systems, digital signatures, station procedures, and training cannot readily be completed in ​the allotted time," the group said, calling on the CDC to "reconsider a more proportionate and measured U.S. response."

Airlines for America said that in 2025, ‌U.S. Customs and Border Protection screened about 130 million air passengers, but fewer than 25,000 of them had a connection to the Democratic Republic of Congo.

IATA also questioned why the plan only applied to air travellers. "The U.S. government has clearly decided that the risk of the importation of Ebola into the United States is high enough to justify this global process. It is difficult to understand why ​other modes of transportation – maritime and ​surface – were not included ⁠in this mandate," IATA said.

In May, the CDC adopted rules barring foreign airline passengers who had been in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the centre of the 2026 outbreak, in the prior three weeks. The restrictions were extended to US citizens in July.

Airlines for America urged the CDC to exempt crew members, the US military, and jumpseat travellers, calling the plan "overly stringent, costly and burdensome to Americans and the US airline industry."

As part of the Ebola measures, the CDC has barred foreign nationals from the US since earlier this year if they were in Uganda or South Sudan in the prior three weeks.

The Bundibugyo strain spread undetected for months before the outbreak was declared in May. It kills about half of those infected and has no approved treatment or vaccine.

So far, the outbreak is confirmed to ​have killed about 4,700 people in Africa, according to the Africa CDC.