U.S.-bound flight diverted to Canada over Ebola rules sparks questions

Disease specialist Dr. Isaac Bogoch says an Ebola outbreak in Canada would not be as ‘widespread’ as the one currently sweeping through Congo and Uganda.

Planes are occasionally diverted to other airports for emergencies, but a recent case is raising questions.

A Detroit-bound Air France plane was diverted to Montreal last week after the U.S. refused entry to a passenger from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the epicentre of a deadly outbreak of a rare type of Ebola.

The U.S. border agency said the passenger boarded “in error” due to new U.S. entry restrictions to prevent the potential spread of Ebola. The U.S. is only allowing travellers who were recently in Ebola-affected regions in Africa to land in Dulles International Airport in Virginia for “enhanced” health screenings.

Currently, Canada doesn’t have a travel ban, but passengers arriving at major ports of entry are now being asked about their travel history and potential symptoms, Dr. Joss Reimer, Canada’s chief public officer of health, said Friday.

When asked about the decision-making process behind flight diversions, Transport Canada said it is working on a response to CTVNews.ca.

Transport Canada did confirm that the Air France flight “had to divert to an alternate airport where it could land safely and allow the inadmissible passenger to deplane, allowing the flight to continue on to its planned destination.”

The Public Health Agency of Canada told CNN that the agency’s quarantine officer “assessed the traveller and determined they were asymptomatic.”

Aviation expert John Gradek has concerns about this particular flight diversion.

“So, in normal circumstances, diversions are there to handle emergency situations,” he told CTVNews.ca in a Zoom interview Friday, noting examples such as low fuel, turbulence, potential injuries or someone needing immediate medical care.

But rather than an emergency, he said, the Air France incident seemed to be “an administrative error” that allowed the passenger from the Democratic Republic of the Congo to board the plane going to Detroit, which violated the U.S. rules, said Gradek, a faculty lecturer in supply networks and aviation management at McGill University in Montreal.

“And so my concern is … are we kind of abusing the diversion protocol to deal with an administrative error? …”

“Is that now going to be part of our protocol?” he added. “And if it is, we should be explicit in letting the aviation community know that administrative errors can now also be considered as part of a rationale for diversion.”

He said Canada follows standards from the Montreal-based International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). While ICAO standards are not regulatory requirements, Gradek said they do outline protocols for aircraft operators and member countries. This would include allowing an aircraft experiencing an emergency, or “deemed in jeopardy,” to land.

Gradek said a request to divert to another airport may come from air traffic controllers, the carrier itself or the flight crew.

‘It’s not the next pandemic’

The recent Air France incident may also raise health concerns. The World Health Organization declared the Ebola outbreak a public health emergency of international concern on May 17.

Amid fears about Ebola’s potential spread to Canada, Dr. Joanne Liu suggested that scenario is unlikely.

“… I want to reassure people that the risk is very, very low,” Liu said in a Zoom interview with CTVNews.ca on Friday.

Liu is the head of the Pandemic and Emergency Readiness Lab at McGill University and the former international president of Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) who spearheaded the response to previous Ebola outbreaks in West Africa and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

She said Ebola is transmitted through direct contact with an infected person’s bodily fluids, unlike COVID-19 and the flu that are transmitted by air.

“You are only contagious with the disease if you have symptoms,” she added, noting the Air France passenger was asymptomatic.

Liu said the risk if “very high” if you are in an area with many cases and don’t take any precautions.

“So it’s not the next pandemic,” she said.

With files from CTV News’ Heather Wright, CNN and The Canadian Press