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Source: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/loc...,1267201.story
In case of pandemic alert, air passengers could be re-routed to Miami
Proposal would add Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport
By Michael Turnbell and Scott Powers | South Florida Sun-Sentinel
June 8, 2009
As the swine flu scare fades, America's major airports are bracing for how to handle any future pandemic that could require them to quarantine international flights.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has set up stand-by quarantine/screening facilities at 19 airports to which all flights from affected countries would be diverted.
While Miami International Airport is among the 19, Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, which handles about 3 million international passengers a year, is not.
That means that in the event of the highest-level alert, all flights to Fort Lauderdale from pandemic-affected countries could be rerouted to Miami, Atlanta, Houston or somewhere else.
Nationally, airline and airport lobbyists predict chaos, saying there is no way the air traffic system can handle such extensive rerouting.
Now, new proposals are emerging in Washington, including a plan that would designate Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood, Orlando International and four other major airports as potential second-tier quarantine sites. Palm Beach International Airport is not among the six.
Funneling all of Fort Lauderdale's international flights to Miami would be a "logistical nightmare," said Michael Nonnemacher, Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood's direction of operations.
"It would be huge impact to the carriers and a huge inconvenience to the passengers," Nonnemacher said.
Local officials say they understand the CDC will approve the new designations only if the airports pay for the quarantine facilities themselves.
The facilities aren't cheap. A 2008 study by the Federal Aviation Administration concluded that setting aside space for health screenings and a quarantine of up to 200 people could cost $15,000 a month, with costs of an actual quarantine running into the hundreds of thousands.
The quarantine stations at the 19 airports are paid for by the CDC.
Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood officials began developing a plan to handle quarantined passengers and flights several years ago during the bird flu scare. It calls for erecting air-conditioned tents on the runway ramps to screen or quarantine passengers before they enter the terminal.
"It would slow things down, but we would still be able to operate as an international port," Nonnemacher said.
Still some questions remained unanswered, such as how screening for a quarantine center would be staffed or where the money and public health resources might come from. Quarantined passengers might have to remain for days to show they are not infectious.
Airport spokesman Greg Meyer said any procedures put into place to screen passengers at Fort Lauderdale would be a collaboration between the airport, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the Transportation Security Administration.
Following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and the SARS pandemic threat of 2003, the Bush administration decided to update the nation's 1970s-era plans for screening and quarantining foreign visitors, should a global health threat emerge.
The new federal strategy, which emerged in 2007, expanded the number of CDC-sponsored quarantine stations to 20, up from eight. Nineteen are at airports; one, in El Paso, Texas, is at a land-border center.
The plan called for all flights from countries identified by the World Health Organization as pandemic countries to be diverted to the 19 airports.
However, the Air Transit Association, the trade group for airlines, and the Airports Council International-North America, the major trade group for airports, jointly asked the Obama Administration in late March to reconsider the strategy.
Besides needing to set up screenings for potentially tens of thousands of passengers, the airports would then have to put cleared passengers onto flights to their intended destinations. Flights would back up and delays would spread everywhere, predicted Katherine Andrus, assistant general counsel for the Air Transit Association.
"It would be like a very, very bad snowstorm hitting all airports with international arrivals at the same time," she said.
Michael Turnbell can be reached at mturnbell@sunsentinel.com, 954-356-4155 or on Twitter @MikeTurnpike.
In case of pandemic alert, air passengers could be re-routed to Miami
Proposal would add Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport
By Michael Turnbell and Scott Powers | South Florida Sun-Sentinel
June 8, 2009
As the swine flu scare fades, America's major airports are bracing for how to handle any future pandemic that could require them to quarantine international flights.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has set up stand-by quarantine/screening facilities at 19 airports to which all flights from affected countries would be diverted.
While Miami International Airport is among the 19, Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, which handles about 3 million international passengers a year, is not.
That means that in the event of the highest-level alert, all flights to Fort Lauderdale from pandemic-affected countries could be rerouted to Miami, Atlanta, Houston or somewhere else.
Nationally, airline and airport lobbyists predict chaos, saying there is no way the air traffic system can handle such extensive rerouting.
Now, new proposals are emerging in Washington, including a plan that would designate Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood, Orlando International and four other major airports as potential second-tier quarantine sites. Palm Beach International Airport is not among the six.
Funneling all of Fort Lauderdale's international flights to Miami would be a "logistical nightmare," said Michael Nonnemacher, Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood's direction of operations.
"It would be huge impact to the carriers and a huge inconvenience to the passengers," Nonnemacher said.
Local officials say they understand the CDC will approve the new designations only if the airports pay for the quarantine facilities themselves.
The facilities aren't cheap. A 2008 study by the Federal Aviation Administration concluded that setting aside space for health screenings and a quarantine of up to 200 people could cost $15,000 a month, with costs of an actual quarantine running into the hundreds of thousands.
The quarantine stations at the 19 airports are paid for by the CDC.
Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood officials began developing a plan to handle quarantined passengers and flights several years ago during the bird flu scare. It calls for erecting air-conditioned tents on the runway ramps to screen or quarantine passengers before they enter the terminal.
"It would slow things down, but we would still be able to operate as an international port," Nonnemacher said.
Still some questions remained unanswered, such as how screening for a quarantine center would be staffed or where the money and public health resources might come from. Quarantined passengers might have to remain for days to show they are not infectious.
Airport spokesman Greg Meyer said any procedures put into place to screen passengers at Fort Lauderdale would be a collaboration between the airport, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the Transportation Security Administration.
Following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and the SARS pandemic threat of 2003, the Bush administration decided to update the nation's 1970s-era plans for screening and quarantining foreign visitors, should a global health threat emerge.
The new federal strategy, which emerged in 2007, expanded the number of CDC-sponsored quarantine stations to 20, up from eight. Nineteen are at airports; one, in El Paso, Texas, is at a land-border center.
The plan called for all flights from countries identified by the World Health Organization as pandemic countries to be diverted to the 19 airports.
However, the Air Transit Association, the trade group for airlines, and the Airports Council International-North America, the major trade group for airports, jointly asked the Obama Administration in late March to reconsider the strategy.
Besides needing to set up screenings for potentially tens of thousands of passengers, the airports would then have to put cleared passengers onto flights to their intended destinations. Flights would back up and delays would spread everywhere, predicted Katherine Andrus, assistant general counsel for the Air Transit Association.
"It would be like a very, very bad snowstorm hitting all airports with international arrivals at the same time," she said.
Michael Turnbell can be reached at mturnbell@sunsentinel.com, 954-356-4155 or on Twitter @MikeTurnpike.
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