Originally Posted by
expert7700
guessing this is related to the extra 3+hrs of disinfection required on the ground at HKG, that caused the DL flight to turn around in Russia. HKG requires every seat to be individually disinfected before their ground/provisioning staff can clear the flight for new passengers to board. Flying two crews from ICN-PVG-ICN might be cost prohibitive.
I haven't heard of any HKG disinfection requirements, only PVG. FAs can work 16+ hours so a 6-hour ground time at PVG is not a problem. Pilots were the issue. Once you go above ~8 hours, you need an extra pilot, and DL did not have a 3rd ready at ICN that day, while UA routinely had that buffer.
HKGov banned CX YYZ for 2 weeks for carrying too many positive passengers. This should've been good news for AC. But with the nature of omicron, HKG is probably too high risk for AC especially with incompetent GAs. Being too strict, get sued by passengers who lost C$7k in non-refundable hotel booking. Being too lax, get banned by HKGov. Chinese New Year traffic is drying up (you have to arrive HKG by Jan 10 to be let out by Jan 31), and any returning passengers can be flown first by ANA (leaving HK with a Tokyo connection is a lot easier in terms of COVID rules than arriving HK).