IATA Steps Up Public Health Message
By Jennifer Michels
IATA will be integrating more information about public health concerns into its online travel center that currently is geared more toward public information than airline operations.
Over the coming days, IATATravelCentre.com users may notice more links to public health organizations or local authorities concerning the swine flu. Although IATA considers the World Health Organization (WHO) to be the top authority in times of an outbreak such as this one, it can be confusing when advisories or recommendations or mandatory requirements come from various groups around the world, so it hopes to centralize those postings on its Web site.
IATA already has a 54-page global influenza preparedness plan document for airlines on the site. Spokesman Steve Lott said that one thing IATA discovered in 2003 during the SARS outbreak was that while airlines had terrorism and crisis communications plans in place, they did not all have plans in place for public health scares.
In the latest operational news from Latin America, Canadian tour operators have started bailing out of Mexico as concerns mount. Air Transat, Canada’s largest travel company, is canceling trips and will not resume flying into Mexico until at least June 1. According to Stuart Morris of Itravel2000.com, “Air Transat has made the tough decision to basically pull the planes out of Mexico. They have taken their planes, and they are moving them to Cuba, the Dominican Republic, and they are taking their people as well.”
Sunwing Vacations has canceled all departures to Mexico until the end of May, and Sunquest has canceled its tours until the beginning of June. Air Canada has also announced that it will suspend flights to Cancun, Cozumel and Puerto Vallarta until June 1. Flights to Mexico City, however, will still take off. WestJet is also grounding flights to resorts in Mexico with seasonal service to Cancun returning in the Fall.
Also, the Argentine government suspended flights to and from Mexico until Monday morning. Separately, officials at Ezeiza Airport have installed sensor machines to measure the body temperatures of passengers arriving from the U.S., Canada and those who are still currently in flight from Mexico.
Mexicana de Aviacion and TACA both reported massive cancellation or postponement of flights from Costa Rica to Mexico. Both airlines confirm that people are canceling or postponing flights, up to 40 or more daily and that could increase up to 300 daily in the coming days.
Logo: IATA
