Top airlines offer to re-assign crew from Zika-hit routes

Major US airlines United (UAL.N), Delta (DAL.N) and American (AAL.O) and Europe’s Lufthansa (LHAG.DE) and Air France (AIRF.PA) are offering to re-assign certain flight crew concerned about contracting the Zika virus from routes to affected countries.

The previously unreported policies by the US airlines show how the mosquito-borne virus, linked to thousands of birth defects in Brazil, looms as an issue not just for airline passengers but for flight attendants and pilots as well.

In an internal memo on Jan. 28, seen by Reuters, United said expectant flight attendants as well as those seeking to become pregnant could switch routes to avoid Zika-affected regions without repercussions. The airline has similar options available for pilots, Charles Hobart, spokesman for parent United Continental Holdings, Inc., told Reuters on Wednesday.

Delta Air Lines, Inc. has also let flight attendants and pilots switch assignments since Jan. 17, and American Airlines Group Inc has encouraged crew to tell their managers of concerns in order to opt out of flights to Zika-hit areas, spokesmen for the companies said.

“A small number of crew members have swapped trips to date,” Delta’s Morgan Durrant said.

“We have immediate concern about our members’ health,” said Sara Nelson, international president of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, when asked for comment on United’s memo.

“This issue is changing at a fairly rapid pace, (and) it’s important that those updates are ongoing,” she said, adding that airlines appeared to be responding faster to employee concerns than they did during past outbreaks, such as the spread of Ebola in 2014.

In Europe, safety rules require that pilots and cabin crew are switched to ground jobs when they are pregnant.

Major long-haul carriers Lufthansa and Air France also said they already offered crew members with any reservations about flying to a particular destination the chance to change a shift.

Air France said it had offered that flexibility during the Ebola outbreak. (Reuters)