Air France suspended its flights between Paris and Kinshasa following the identification of a positive case of the Ebola virus having traveled on this route on Tuesday and plans to resume them on Saturday, the company announced on Friday June 26.
“Following the identification of a positive case of the Ebola virus having traveled on a Kinshasa – Paris-Charles de Gaulle flight arriving at Paris-Charles de Gaulle on June 23, 2026, flights to and from Kinshasa (Democratic Republic of Congo) were temporarily suspended before a resumption planned for Saturday June 27,” specifies Air France.
The passenger diagnosed positive, the first confirmed case in France, is a doctor of Congolese nationality working on behalf of the NGO Alima and who usually resides in France. After a month-long mission to the epicenter of the epidemic, he left Ituri, a province in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, on June 19 and made a three-day stopover in the capital Kinshasa.
Monday evening, he took an Air France flight to Paris. When he landed the next day at Roissy-Charles-de-Gaulle, the Congolese holding a residence permit presented himself to the emergency medical and care service at the airport. He is currently being treated in a Parisian hospital. The doctor suffered from headaches before boarding and his condition deteriorated slightly during the flight, which lasted at least eight hours. Five people, including flight crew, who came into contact with the patient, were placed in isolation.
Limited risk of spread
The French authorities and the WHO have reassured about the risk of spreading the virus in Europe. According to the Pasteur Institute, transmission of the Ebola virus between humans can occur directly – via the blood or biological fluids of infected people (urine, saliva, sweat, semen, etc.) – or indirectly – via objects or surfaces contaminated by these liquids. The risk of transmission by aerosol is very limited, according to the same source.
“In coordination with local authorities, reinforced health checks are planned before boarding at Kinshasa airport,” adds the French airline. All travelers departing from Kinshasa must complete the electronic Traveler health form before any check-in operation, according to the French embassy in the DRC.
Air France emphasizes that “the health and safety of its customers and crew members are absolute imperatives”. The company indicated on Wednesday that it had “disinfected the aircraft that carried out the flight” and provided the health authorities with the list of passengers who traveled on board this plane.
