brunos

Just a warning for those who are planning to travel in coming days.
Many countries are banning travellers from Hong Kong because of the Omicron case here. The list increases by the hour.

Also BA has suspended its flights until further notice because of crews sent to Penny Bay.

percysmith

Russia and Switzerland already announced restrictions on HK arrivals

【11月27日疫情速報】(22:20)
http://news.now.com/home/local/playe...52&refer=Share

percysmith

I'm not sure is this overharsh or not in the era of crew-vaccinated flights - I am assuming, BA crews will be in compliance by the end of the year.

For infected crew members confirmed on arrival, what exactly are they expecting? They'd be allowed back on planes (whose HEPA filters we know is a POS theory) before they test negative - even if (big if, I don't think it's in force yet) the full flight is vaccinated? They're going to have to isolate - whether that is allowed in a hotel room, an isolation ward or a camp is dependent on local medical jurisdiction.

Whether this treatment needs to be meted out for other members of the crew is a different question. But one thing leaning towards HK's application is, BA flights are not fully vaccinated (passengers as well as crew) (c.f. Qantas).

This is not specific to HKG but BA destinations globally, so equally applicable to a crew on LHR-JFK.

lost_in_translation

Lol. This is total rubbish, all BA crew need to be fully vaccinated and are tested before departure to be able to operate the Hong Kong route. You honestly think other jurisdictions treat crew even remotely the same way Hong Kong does? Hong Kong locks up the entire crew in what is basically a prison camp even after that fully vaccinated individual has tested negative. No sane Western country does that as they are not clinging to the deluded fantasy of zero Covid cases to try to facilitate an opening with Mainland China.

brunos

As pointed out above, BA crews have to be vaccinated to fly to HK and tested before departure.
No doubt that HK is applying a consistent policy in sending the whole crew (close contacts) to Penny Bay if one member tests positive. Hence, that is fair if you consider HK quarantine policy fair.

The practical question for us HKers is that very few longhaul airlines keep flying to HK. I don't know if LH, VS or AC crews layover in HK. If they do, the same is likely to happen to them.
With CX cancelling so many flights, few longhaul options remain open and very expensive. Even cargo is getting severely impacted and that matters to HK government.

BA used to operate flights with two crews (the HK inbound crew remaining onboard). Whether they will restart with that model is a question mark.

percysmith

Not as much as achieving policy objectives - we’re now Just Another Chinese City.

NickB

The policy may be consistent but, looked at it from an employment perspective, the question is whether it is reasonable for an employer to subject its employees to the risk of being detained under such circumstances. Given labour standards prevailing in Europe, I would have thought that, for European airlines at least, the answer should be a clear and resounding "no".

sbs2716g

Did HKG gov send all the paxes from the particular flight to the quarantine camp?

percysmith

The whole crew was determined to be close contact of the two infected crew members https://www.thestandard.com.hk/break...s-to-Hong-Kong . No confirmed infections among the passengers yet (but almost all of them are in hotel quarantine anyway)

tauphi

LH has no problems with its staff (and those of its subsidiaries) being detained in China should they test positive.

brunos

Out of curiosity, what are the covid rules for cargo pilots in mainland China? Same as in Hong Kong?

hkskyline

AC added Seoul on its HKG flights to prevent its own crew from being detained in HK. They had a case of that earlier so they do a crew change in ICN now who flies ICN-HKG-ICN only.

The way the crews are tested and detained at PB if positive works the same with any other person who is infected, either locally or imported. Don't think what happens to them is more harsh than any other person. I recall hearing if a passenger tests positive, they sweep the few rows around it as close contacts and send them off to PB.

The whole rationale of COVID-0 is a separate topic altogether and not an airline-specific issue.

brunos

KL has been using BKK to base crew for over a year.

Wonder if CX is considering reopening their foreign crew bases that they closed not so long ago.

tauphi

Way more strict than HK, they must quarantine for 14 days (in a hotel) before returning to their family. However, they may leave at any time to operate another flight, so typically they do a period of back-to-back flying, followed by 14 days quarantine before taking a period of leave.
For passenger flight crew, it's even more strict as they are banned from operating another flight until they have quarantined for 7 days (with a negative exit test result).

tauphi

Yes the ICN stopover is a tried-and-tested method for avoiding quarantine and Covid tests. The crew return immediately to Seoul without exiting the aircraft.

Many airlines flying to China have been using this method since 2020. Interestingly, LH and its subsidiaries have elected not to do this and are instead complying with Chinese quarantine rules for crew.