Travelers who still need to get around are seeking out private jet operators to fill the void of suspended flights.
Vimana Private Jets, which charters trips for the uber-wealthy, has helped clients with business meetings in Beijing in recent weeks. The jets don’t typically stay long on the ground in China. Instead they fly to Vietnam while they wait for the return leg to mitigate the risk of infection to crew.
‘Fluid Situation’
Still, the logistics of flying into high-risk virus areas is becoming increasingly complicated, said PrivateFly’s Twidell. For one, it’s often hard to find the aircraft or sufficient crew to fill all the requests.
“Operational protocols are changing daily,” Twidell said. “It’s a very fluid situation.”
Paramount Business Jets is getting a lot of requests to fly people out of Asia, Zaher said. It’s not easy. There are difficulties finding available aircraft and complying with new restrictions such as making sure passengers who have visited China have been out of the country and observed for 14 days without showing symptoms.
“Our clients are requesting aircraft that haven’t flown to mainline China, for example, and are asking for a crew that has been temperature-checked,” said Zaher, whose company arranges about 500 flights a year.
Planes and their passengers still must respect any quarantined areas, and must undergo additional screening procedures for trips to and from risk areas.
Flights coming into the U.K. from such locations are subject to inspections by port authorities, whose powers include “detention of the aircraft, passengers, stores, equipment and cargo” if they constitute a danger to public health, according to the Association of Port Health Authorities’ website.
--With assistance from Tom Maloney.
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.