Imagine for a moment being part of an airline crew these days. Quarantine has replaced the biggest perk of the job; layovers in exotic destinations (such as Nanjing). Now though, Cathay Pacific has a new solution; don’t even let them off the plane.
Cathay Pacific is the flag carrier airline for Hong Kong. But the fact that the region’s quarantine policy for airline crews has now moved in line with the rest of China presented a quandary for the 75-year-old operator.
For that would see crews who get off their aircraft upon their return home be placed in designated hotels for the 14-day quarantine. Obviously they wouldn’t then be working again anytime soon.
The solution therefore, is to base the crews elsewhere. And so, beginning next month, some of Cathay Pacific pilots shall be placed on what is known in the industry as Temporary Extended-Roster Patterns (TERPs).
Specifically, pilots who fly the airline’s Boeing 777 fleet on the route between Hong Kong (HKG) and Los Angeles (LAX) are to be stationed out of the latter for up to 4 or even 5 months, reports ch-aviation.com.
According to a statement released by the airline, the move “will allow our Hong Kong-based pilots to operate a series of duties over longer periods of time that touch Hong Kong but without entering the local community before undergoing the government-mandated quarantine on return to Hong Kong at the end of the pattern.
“It is intended as a temporary fallback plan and is not considered to be a long term solution to the current challenges Cathay Pacific is facing”.
The airline also added there has been considerable interest in the plan among pilots. If successful, the TERPs could well soon be operated to locations elsewhere, while other airlines are sure to be watching closely.
In practice, the two pilot crews on board any one aircraft shall work the maximum permitted hours before resting with the other crew then at work. Upon arrival in Hong Kong, the Cathy pilots won’t be going home; they’ll be turning around and heading back to LAX.
Cathay is not the first airline to do this in respect to the enormous international hub that is Hong Kong. Worldwide courier FedEx did the same thing last month, basing its Hong Kong-destined pilots out of Oakland in California.
But then, in a way Cathay got itself into this mess. That three pilots were tested COVID positive recently was likely a contributing factor to Hong Kong cracking down on its quarantine for airline crews.
