Well, technically Phoenix Air has two specially-equipped jets, but one is always used to back up the other one, so only one is available at any given time.
The second aircraft is apparently under contract and in Siberia somewhere, and not currently available for evacuation flights from Africa.
Both aircraft can apparently be configured for full BSL-4 containment, including airborne pathogens. Phoenix Air is modifying a third airframe for this, but no more without a paying customer. That means that in the best case, with all three aircraft available and properly configured, the US has the capability to evacuate about one patient per day.
Even that best case seems low to me. In the real world you can probably count on only one or two aircraft unless you're willing to pay to keep them on standby - Phoenix is the business of putting those airplanes to work, not sitting them idle somewhere in case a call comes in.
If suspy ected Ebola cases are transported soon after symptoms first appear, experience seems to have shown the danger of infecting others appears very low
Is that true of all Ebola outbreaks or only this one?
Of course, the further into the disease a person gets, the higher the risk goes as they become more infectious, so at some point, a pod becomes necessary.
Also, the Phoenix aircraft must refual a couple of times, in foreign countries, to get to the US. The aircraft might be denied landing rights if an Ebola patient isn't in a POD, even if no one leaves the aircraft.
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