--- title: Ebola Flights Brussels: Why Fly To West Africa description: Brussels Airlines says it has no plans to stop flying to West Africa, even as most airlines have suspended service because of Ebola. canonical: https://time.com/3490961/brussels-airlines-ebola/ author: Justin Worland article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-10-10T22:28:33.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:00:29.870Z article:section: Health og:title: Why One Airline Flies To West Africa Despite Ebola og:description: Brussels Airlines says it has no plans to stop flying to West Africa, even as most airlines have suspended service because of Ebola. og:url: https://time.com/3490961/brussels-airlines-ebola/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Why One Airline Flies To West Africa Despite Ebola twitter:description: Brussels Airlines says it has no plans to stop flying to West Africa, even as most airlines have suspended service because of Ebola. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Why One Airline Flies To West Africa Despite Ebola > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ## Video: Science Cop: Ebola Fear Mongers [Watch (HLS stream): Science Cop: Ebola Fear Mongers](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/Fwl31d5e.m3u8) (2:30)  _Published 2014-10-10. TIME's Science Cop Jeffrey Kulger takes on the media figures stirring up panic in the aftermath of the ebola outbreak._  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Oct 10, 2014 10:28 PM UTC  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Oct 10, 2014 10:28 PM UTC Several major airlines including British Airways and Emirates have [suspended service](http://time.com/3451069/monrovia-dallas-patient-zero-ebola-contagion/) to Ebola-stricken regions of West Africa in response to a rapidly worsening Ebola outbreak, and Americans seem to agree with the service halts: 58% of people polled in a recent [survey](http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/ebola-virus-outbreak/majority-americans-want-flights-banned-ebola-countries-survey-n221751) from NBC News want to ban all incoming flights from West African countries with Ebola. But two airlines—Brussels and Royal Air Maroc, Morocco’s largest airline—have continued serving Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea. Brussels Airlines says it has no plans to stop flying into Guinea, Sierra Leone or Liberia in the immediate future. “It is our humanitarian duty to operate there,” said Geert Sciot, a vice president at Brussels Airlines. “Without our fights it would become almost impossible for medical staff to reach the country.” In recent days, health and governmental officials have [warned](http://time.com/3481373/ebola-transport-flight-plane-liberia/) that a shortage of flights limits the ability to get aid to the region and ultimately could worsen the global Ebola crisis. Sciot, who said that the airline has made flights to Africa a focus of their service for decades, said that the World Health Organization and other health groups had directly asked senior airline leadership to continue service to West Africa. Health groups also partnered with Brussels Airlines to implement measures to ensure safety for the passengers and crew. All passengers leaving the region have their temperatures taken and are screened with a questionnaire; patients with Ebola symptoms are not allowed to fly. Airline crew are not permitted to spend the night in at-risk locations, so they travel on a Brussels flight to Senegal when they need to stay overnight in West Africa. “It’s absolutely safe for us as an airline, for our passengers and for our crew, to operate these flights,” said Sciot. Despite conducting what he described as a public service, Sciot acknowledged the potential fallout from people who are concerned that flying to West Africa may help spread Ebola. Part of that attention undoubtedly surrounded the death of Thomas Eric Duncan, the [only person to die of Ebola on American soil](http://time.com/3481824/ebola-patient-thomas-eric-duncan-dies/). Duncan flew on Brussels Airlines from Liberia en route the United States before exhibiting symptoms of the disease. Sciot said that compared to last year, about the same number of people fly on the route and revenue is comparable, though there is a wait list for cargo space. “For our image, I don’t think we benefit from this at all,” he said. “We get a lot media requests linked to a disease.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3490961/brussels-airlines-ebola/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3490961/brussels-airlines-ebola/"},"headline":"Why One Airline Flies To West Africa Despite Ebola","datePublished":"2014-10-10T22:28:33.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T08:00:29.870Z","description":"\"It is our humanitarian duty to operate there\"","url":"https://time.com/3490961/brussels-airlines-ebola/","keywords":["ebola","Air travel","health","Infectious Disease"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Justin Worland","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/justin-worland/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/ebola/","name":"ebola"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3490961/brussels-airlines-ebola/","name":"Why One Airline Flies To West Africa Despite Ebola"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Science Cop: Ebola Fear Mongers","description":"TIME's Science Cop Jeffrey Kulger takes on the media figures stirring up panic in the aftermath of the ebola outbreak.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/Fwl31d5e/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-10-10T20:03:51.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/Fwl31d5e.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3490961/brussels-airlines-ebola/","duration":"PT2M30S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3490961/brussels-airlines-ebola/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```