The following report will provide an analysis on the risks and impacts of pandemics such as Ebola Virus Disease in Singapore’s aviation industry, actions that can be taken to resolve the issues, the detailed steps on how to implement these measures and lastly, a personal opinion on whether the aviation companies or organisation in Singapore are ready to tackle the issues caused by pandemics.
a. Risks and impacts
Risks of Pandemics
The occurrence of a pandemic is unpredictable, no one knows where or when will it happen. For example, a pandemic such as the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) that is currently occurring in African countries such as Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea will certainly increase the risk of the virus spreading into Singapore as many people will be exposed to it if they are travelling on air carriers that are arriving or transiting into Changi Airport from other airports. Especially when Singapore is a major aviation hub in Southeast Asia, handling more than 100,000 passenger movements through the airport each day, the risk of pandemics in Singapore is considerably high. An example will be a recent potential Ebola case, when a Nigerian woman was identified as a possible carrier of the virus. If this case were confirmed, the virus will be more likely to spread given that Singapore is a small and densely populated where people come into contact with each other very often every day.
Impacts of Pandemics
The most considerable impact on aviation industry will be an obvious decrease in the number of travellers coming to Singapore. Many airlines will start to halt flights to Singapore which may have a huge economic impact on the aviation industry. Airlines might suffer from reduced number of flights and having low load factor, especially for local carries due to the widespread of pandemics and fear of being infected with such pandemics. Thus, the number of jobs created in the aviation industry will be decreased as the need of more manpower will