Faced with tough quarantine rules for flight crew, Cathay Pacific Airways is getting creative with staff rosters.
It is implementing a ‘closed-loop’ system which will roster staff on consecutive 21-day shifts.
Here is how it will work:
Crew will work a 21-day cycle of shifts and isolate at Cathay’s Headland Hotel when they return to Hong Kong.
After their three-week duty is over they must quarantine for 14 days in a hotel on Hong Kong Island.
Following that they will have 14 days off duty.
That means they will be away from home for more than a month.
The airline sought volunteers to work the new schedules, and says it has enough to meet flight schedule requirements.
Cathay took drastic measures because Hong Kong extended the mandatory quarantine period for arrivals..
There are some exemptions for flight crew to avoid quarantining depending on the flight routes they work, such as within Greater China, according to Bloomberg.
"As long as stringent quarantine measures continue to be in place in Hong Kong and elsewhere, the coming months will be extremely challenging," Cathay’s chief customer and commercial officer Ronald Lam said
Cathay crew will take Covid-19 tests every time they return to Hong Kong, and on arrival at overseas destinations subject to local protocols.
Cathay recently said the tough new quarantine measures will add up to HK$400 million in extra costs.
Written by Ray Montgomery, Asia Editor
