Lufthansa i Ebola oppdrag

Lufthansa Turns An Airbus A340 Into 'Ebola Jet' For Evacuating Infected Personnel

Lufthansa A340-300

A Lufthansa Airbus A340-300 taking off from Munich airport Ingrid Friedl / Lufthansa

Lufthansa, the biggest airline in Europe by passengers carried, is converting one of its airplanes into an "Ebola jet," whose mission will be ferrying health personnel to treatment facilities in the West.

According to German magazine Der Spiegel, Lufthansa will turn one of its Airbus A340 long-range planes into a medical evacuation transport, featuring three "isolation cells" that will ensure patients can be transported safely.

The Ebola epidemic is concentrated in West Africa. The hemorrhagic fever has infected more than 14,000 people since March in Guinea, Liberia, Mali, Nigeria, Senegal and Sierra Leone, according to the World Health Organization, making this the biggest outbreak on record. More than 5,000 have died, according to WHO data. At least 20 cases have been treated in Europe and the U.S. Three were Germans: One recovered, one is in treatment, and one died.

Beginning Monday until the end of November, experts from Lufthansa Technik, the company's aircraft maintenance arm, and doctors from the Robert Koch Institut -- the German equivalent of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention -- will oversee the conversion of the four-engine airliner, which was requested by the federal government.