* Emirates chief says demand to Africa from Asia suffering
* IATA says air travel safe, transmission risk onboard low
* Passengers undergo temperature scans at African airports
* Brussels, Royal Air Maroc still flying to crisis areas
By Victoria Bryan
BERLIN, Oct 2 (Reuters) - Airlines and airports handlingtravel to countries worst hit by the Ebola epidemic are tryingto prove that flying to West Africa is safe, following concernsthat the first case diagnosed in the United States could curtailworldwide services.
Some airlines have already suspended or cut back flightssince the summer, and only one European carrier now offersdirect services to Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia. However,those still operating have taken measures to protect passengersand crew, along with airports in the region and beyond.
The Dallas Ebola case, involving a man who returned to theUnited States from Liberia last month, has led to worries abouta spread of the virus outside West Africa, where at least 3,338people have died in the worst outbreak on record.
Shares in airline and travel stocks fell on Thursday, withEuropean travel and leisure shares down 1 percent,against a 0.6 percent fall for European stocks.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) said onThursday that the Ebola crisis has taken on a "new dimension"with the case in the United States, but it repeated that flyingremained safe.
The virus is not transmitted through air, but by contactwith bodily fluids and is contagious only once there aresymptoms such as fever, vomiting and diarrhoea. These symptomsare so crippling that it is nearly impossible for anyonesuffering them to board a plane, experts say.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has not placed anyrestrictions on travel and has encouraged airlines to keepflying to the worst-hit regions. British Airways andEmirates airlines have suspended some flights.
"Travellers should be reassured. WHO has clearly said thatthe risk of Ebola transmission on board an aircraft is verylow," IATA Director General Tony Tyler said on Thursday.
Working with the WHO and IATA, the United Nations airlinebody ICAO came up with guidelines for airlines on contagiousdiseases following the outbreak of SARS in 2003, which resultedin $7 billion of lost revenue to Asia-Pacific and U.S. airlines,according to IATA estimates.
At airports in Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Nigeria -which has suffered a relatively small number of cases - and alsoin African hubs such as Addis Ababa, passengers entering andleaving have to undergo temperature scans and fill inquestionnaires indicating places they have visited.
Airports in the crisis-hit areas are well-stocked withantibacterial handwash and plastic gloves. Brussels Airlines,the sole European airline still flying directly to the threeworst-hit countries, says its crew also have permission torefuse boarding to anyone who appears to be ill.
Moroccan state-owned Royal Air Maroc, which still flies toConakry, Freetown and Monrovia, says crews are trained to detectEbola symptoms.
"If the proper procedures are put in place, the risk isminiscule," Peter Fowler, chief executive of security firmWestminster Group, told Reuters.
Westminster Group provides security services, including atSierra Leone's international airport, and has brought inscanners to screen passengers' body temperature there.
The number of people coming in and out of the airport hasalso been restricted and it has isolation areas available shouldthere be suspected cases.
However, the president of Emirates Airline saidon Thursday that demand for flights to Africa from Asia hadfallen due to concerns over the virus.
A spokesman for Ethiopian Airlines, which serves49 destinations in Africa, said customers were more cautious inbookings, but that its planes were still full and there had beenno cancellations.
Royal Air Maroc said flights to Guinea, Sierra Leone andLiberia had become unprofitable because they were usually emptyon the way out and full only on the way back.
"It is going to have a big impact on West Africa, for placeslike Ghana for example where the tourism trade will be affectedby association," Westminster Group's Fowler said. "Africa iscoming up in the world, this is the last thing it needs. Butthey will get through it."
Brussels Airlines said the outbreak meant it has had to change the way it operates and crews no longer stay overnight inGuinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia. It also carries Ebola kits onboard that enable it to isolate a passenger should symptomsdevelop during a flight.
The airline, 45 percent owned by Lufthansa, usedto combine flights to Conakry, Freetown and Monrovia with a stopin other African countries, but now has to fly directly fromBrussels due to restrictions placed by neighbouring west Africancountries.
This means it now has more seats available to those placesas it can no longer to sell tickets to two differentdestinations on one flight.
"We do have extra costs, yes, but there is a need to travel.Passengers that used to fly with other airlines now have to flywith us," a Brussels Airlines spokesman said. He said theairline was also transporting aid workers and was prioritisingmedical cargo.
"Ebola is not new for us," he said. "Logistically, it's noteasy, it is a challenge, but it's our humanitarian duty to keepflying." (Reporting by Victoria Bryan; Additional reporting by Aziz elYaakoubi in Rabat; editing by David Stamp)
Westminster Group (WSG)