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Cathay Pacific Cargo has announced that it is suspending all long-haul cargo freighter and cargo-only passenger flights with immediate effect. The suspension will last until January 6.
In a statement, the carrier said “due to additional, more stringent quarantine requirements for Hong Kong-based cargo crews, we regret to announce that all long-haul (Transpacific, Europe, South West Pacific, Riyadh, and Dubai) freighter and cargo-only passenger flights will be suspended for a period of seven days, up to 6 January, with immediate effect.”
In addition to cargo routes, Cathay Pacific has been forced to cancel passenger flights from New York (until January 2), London Heathrow (until Jan. 8), Toronto (Jan.11), Los Angeles (Jan. 11) and San Francisco (until January 14) following bans imposed by the Hong Kong government.
The cancellations follow the Hong Kong government's tightening of Covid-19 quarantine requirements, which have increased mandatory hotel quarantine for cargo crew to seven days. The new quarantine requirement came into effect after midnight on Friday, December 31.
The airline said it would need to activate closed-loop operations for cargo crew. Typical closed loop operations require crew members to volunteer for a three-week period of continuous flight operations, followed by seven to 14 days hotel quarantine.
In an internal memo sent to staff, director of flight operations Chris Kempis said “we cannot transition to closed loop operations overnight and we need to take a breather to fully consider all dependencies, including hotel room availability, which is critical. As a result, we are stopping all 747 and cargo-only passenger flight layover operations with immediate effect for a period of seven days and planning to restart these during the course of the day on January 6th.”
Cathay Pacific is also moving ahead with plans to send crew overseas to Los Angeles, and reactivate its United States pilot base.
The cancellations are likely to put further strain on the global supply chain, with air cargo prices soaring as capacity globally has been cut. Cathay Pacific is the world’s fifth largest cargo airline by capacity offered, with cargo contributing 80% of the carrier's revenue in the first half of 2021.
“We sincerely apologise for the disruption caused. We will be working with customers to mitigate the disruption as much as possible,” Cathay said in its statement, adding that it will be working with relevant stakeholders on plans beyond January 6.
On December 28, the Hong Kong-based carrier already warned that new crew restrictions — which required air cargo crew to undergo a compulsory three-day quarantine — could impact operations through the first quarter of 2022.
“Operational and travel restrictions that remain in place continue to constrain our ability to operate flights as planned,” Cathay Pacific Cargo said.
It noted that its sales teams will communicate specific details with affected customers directly.
“We are consolidating our cargo flight schedule for the first quarter of 2022. There will be reductions to long-haul freighter and cargo-only passenger flight capacity,” the carrier said.
“We regret that contracted tonnage will be impacted during this time.”
