( CNN ) If it were easy , any company or government could do it . But flying an Ebola patient halfway around the world -- while keeping that person alive , and everyone safe -- is complicated . Probably no one knows that better than Phoenix Air , a Georgia-based company that is the go-to for transporting Ebola victims by air . Since August , it has made approximately 40 trips -- about half to Europe , the rest to the United States . `` We 're like a fire truck sitting in the firehouse . The bell goes off and within a matter of hours we can be out the door and underway , '' said Dent Thompson , vice president and chief operations officer at Phoenix Air . He described the system that goes inside the company 's modified Gulfstream G-III aircraft . It consists of three major elements : . Once the plane has landed and the patient has left , the whole system is sealed . The aircraft then flies to a high-security hanger in Cartersville , Georgia , where it undergoes a complete decontamination process , which can take up to 24 hours . Everything inside the liner , including the liner , is sterilized multiple times . The liner and everything in it is then removed , put in special boxes , and taken to a federally licensed incinerator where everything is destroyed . `` We like to say it 's more sterile than the surface of the moon when we 're done with it , '' Thompson said . Phoenix Air began developing its system way before the current Ebola outbreak . It worked with the Department of Defense and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to build a system that could safety transport patients with contagious diseases . Then , the main concerns were SARS , swine and bird flu . It took years to work out the kinks and get the system approved , and by the time the work was done , the need had sort of petered out . But Thompson said Phoenix Air held onto the system , knowing -- unfortunately -- the need would arise again . He got a call from the State Department in July . By August , the company had completed its first Ebola flight , safely delivering Dr. Kent Brantly to Emory University Hospital in Atlanta . A few days later , it brought Nancy Writebol to the same hospital for treatment . And on and on and on . Thompson said other groups are now developing systems similar to Phoenix Air 's , including the U.S. government . But so far , none has flown . `` Other organizations have built systems , but we 're the ones still doing it , '' he said . More than 10,000 people have died in the Ebola outbreak , mostly in the countries of Guinea , Liberia and Sierra Leone .
Georgia company equips plane to transport Ebola patients . Design was developed when SARS , swine and bird flu were generating concern .