{"id":31926,"date":"2026-10-25T08:20:38","date_gmt":"2026-10-25T12:20:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/?p=31926"},"modified":"2026-10-25T09:29:54","modified_gmt":"2026-10-25T13:29:54","slug":"burdensome-new-ebola-rule-will-affect-every-us-bound-flight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/burdensome-new-ebola-rule-will-affect-every-us-bound-flight\/","title":{"rendered":"Burdensome new Ebola rule will affect every US-bound flight"},"content":{"rendered":"<h5><strong>Quick Summary<\/strong><\/h5>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>From November 4, every passenger on a flight departing for the US must complete a new Ebola form<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Applies to all aircraft operators: airline, charter, non-scheduled, business aviation &#8211; everyone<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Setting up the process to handle this will be burdensome for many operators<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>From midnight on November 4, <strong>every flight<\/strong> departing for the United States will require that passengers have completed a new form, stating that they have not been to the D.R.C.\/Congo in the past 3 weeks.<\/p>\n<p>For all operators, this presents a rather burdensome paperwork requirement, at very short notice. It applies to every aircraft arriving into the US, not just airlines.<\/p>\n<h4>What are the new rules?<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Every passenger<\/strong> on board an aircraft bound for the US is required to complete the Ebola form before boarding<\/li>\n<li>The form is an attestation that they have not been in the D.R.C. (Democratic Republic of the Congo, Congo-Kinshasa, &#8220;the big one&#8221;) in the past 3 weeks (21 days)<\/li>\n<li>The aircraft operator must collect the form from each passenger (physically, or via a digital version) and retain it for 6 weeks (42 days)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h4><strong>What operators does this apply to?<\/strong><\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li>This applies to <strong>all aircraft operators<\/strong>. Airlines, Charter, Business Aviation, private flights, Cargo (if you have &#8220;pax&#8221;) &#8211; everyone<\/li>\n<li>There are no differences between different operator types. Same form, same requirements<\/li>\n<li>Crew appear to be exempt, but this is not specifically stated in the technical instructions from CDC<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h4><strong>Exemptions<\/strong><\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li>For passengers, basically none. The only mentioned examples in the technical instructions are for flights with Ebola patients, or government flights given permission by the CDC to operate without the form<\/li>\n<li>Operating flight crew, apparently. All references are to &#8220;passengers&#8221;, but not specifically stated by CDC<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h4><strong>OPSGROUP View<\/strong><\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li>The new requirement has taken members by surprise, with a short timeframe to implementation<\/li>\n<li>Implementing the form collection and retention process will be burdensome for most operators. Some pushback from airline trade organisations might be likely in the coming week<\/li>\n<li>The official form provides room for the passengers name only, without any mention of flight number, seat, or date of flight. Operators therefore have to find a way to reliably link the signed form to the PNR or passenger details.<\/li>\n<li>Creating an in-house digital process for this seems to be the easiest approach<\/li>\n<li>If you have any tips on implementation to share for the group, please let the OPSGROUP Team know.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h4><strong>Start here &#8211; Official Sources<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>If you are just getting started with implementing the process, the following are the official documents and sources. We have saved copies of the current forms here for members to make things easier, but check for any updates.<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/port-health\/legal-authorities\/attestation-order.html\">CDC Website: Ebola attestation<\/a> &#8211; the official announcement and details<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/CDC-Ebola-Attestation-Order-Attachment-A.pdf\">Passenger Form<\/a> &#8211; paper version, PDF<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/367886-A_FRM_EbolaAttestation_3_pass.pdf\">Fillable Form<\/a> &#8211; a fillable version of the PDF provided by CDC.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/CDC-Ebola-Attestation-Order-Signed.pdf\">CDC Official Order<\/a> &#8211; Ebola attestation &#8211; PDF.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/port-health\/legal-authorities\/attestation-order.html#cdc_generic_section_2-technical-instructions\">Technical instructions<\/a> &#8211; from CDC, for aircraft operators &#8211; &#8220;How to&#8221;.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h4><strong>Let us know<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>If you have any input on how this is affecting your flight operations, please let <a href=\"mailto:blog.team@ops.group\"><strong>the team<\/strong><\/a> know. We are especially interested in hearing how you are implementing the process, if you are using a digital method, and anything you learn along the way. We will then be able to update members. Thanks!<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h6><strong>OPSGROUP Members<\/strong><\/h6>\n<p>Review the full New Ebola Rule <a href=\"https:\/\/ops.group\/dashboard\/briefings\/new-ebola-rule-affects-all-us-inbound-flights\/\"><strong>Briefing<\/strong><\/a> in your members dashboard. Further updates and member feedback will be posted here.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/ops.group\/dashboard\/briefings\/new-ebola-rule-affects-all-us-inbound-flights\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-31945 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Screenshot-2026-10-25-at-13.27.28-1024x74.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"74\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Screenshot-2026-10-25-at-13.27.28-1024x74.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Screenshot-2026-10-25-at-13.27.28-300x22.jpg 300w, https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Screenshot-2026-10-25-at-13.27.28-768x55.jpg 768w, https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Screenshot-2026-10-25-at-13.27.28-1536x111.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Screenshot-2026-10-25-at-13.27.28-2048x148.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h4><strong>Questions and Answers<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>Below are some of the member questions we have answered.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Is this just for African countries?<br \/>\n<\/strong><br \/>\nNope, the place you depart from for the US is not relevant. All flights, all origins.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What happens if the passenger HAS been in the Congo in the last 21 days?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Then CDC says they cannot travel to the US. There is a mandatory 3 week waiting period. CDC says that &#8220;You are considered to have been in the DRC if you were physically present in DRC at any time during the previous 21 days. This includes entering or traveling through DRC by air, land, or sea. Connecting through an airport in DRC also counts as being present in the country, even if you did not leave the airport or the plane. The 21-day waiting period is based on calendar days. Day 0 is the day you leave DRC, and Day 1 is the first full calendar day you are outside DRC. You may board a flight to the United States beginning on Day 22, provided you meet all other travel requirements. You will not be allowed to travel to the United States during Days 0\u201321.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-31950\" src=\"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/21Daygraphic-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"362\" height=\"204\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/21Daygraphic-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/21Daygraphic-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/21Daygraphic-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/21Daygraphic.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 362px) 100vw, 362px\" \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"pdfprnt-buttons pdfprnt-buttons-post pdfprnt-bottom-left\"><a href=\"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31926?print=pdf\" class=\"pdfprnt-button pdfprnt-button-pdf\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/pdf-print-buttons\/pdf_button.png?2060371495\" alt=\"image_pdf\" title=\"View PDF\" \/><\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Quick Summary From November 4, every passenger on a flight departing for the US must&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":31938,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[1610,2361,771],"class_list":["post-31926","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-briefings","tag-cdc","tag-ebola","tag-kzzz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31926","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/51"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31926"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31926\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31952,"href":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31926\/revisions\/31952"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31938"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31926"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31926"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31926"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}