The Hong Kong SAR Government has announced new quarantine requirements that will affect all Hong Kong-based aircrew. The new measures require crew to undergo a mandatory hotel quarantine of two weeks plus seven days’ medical surveillance following their return to Hong Kong after being on duty.
Director Cargo Tom Owen said: ‘We fully understand the reasons why the Hong Kong SAR Government is applying these measures as another way to eliminate the COVID-19 virus and we will fully comply with the regulations. We hope this will be a temporary measure to help bring the virus under further control.’
The new measures will take effect from 20 February 2021, during which time there will be an impact on the number of flights that Cathay Pacific will be able to operate due to reduced crew availability as a result of the new quarantine requirement.
Owen added: ‘We plan to operate around 75 per cent of our cargo schedule. We intend to mitigate any impact to the business by using additional cargo-only passenger flights and redeploying some of our freighters on the network to those trade lanes that bring the most value to the company.’
‘I would like to thank the commercial and operational teams in Hong Kong and around the world for being so agile in adjusting to these new circumstances. The quarantine restrictions clearly place additional pressures on our operating teams, particularly our pilots. I would like to offer my thanks to them in helping our cargo to keep flying, particularly as cargo is so important to our revenues at the moment.’
