“Big safety issue”: Hong Kong pilots warn about COVID rules | Aviation News

Hong Kong’s “zero COVID” policy is making working conditions so unbearable for aircraft crews that it carries a potential safety risk, pilots who have worked at the aviation center have warned.

In interviews with Al Jazeera, four current Hong Kong pilots and ex-pilots – all of whom asked for anonymity because of their sensitivity to the issue – said the harsh quarantine rules raised safety concerns about the impact on aircraft mental health and well-being.

A fifth pilot said that although he did not believe the situation had “reached that point yet”, current policies were “pushing over the known”.

Among the measures is a “closed loop” system that the air crew sees at work three-week lists in which they are confined to a hotel room when they are not flying, followed by another forty weeks in the hotel quarantine. Under the voluntary system, some aircraft crews have spent months in isolation without fresh air or exercise. The schedule has also affected some aircraft crews, many of whom are exiled, who have not seen family in their home countries for a long time during the pandemic.

“I think it’s a safety issue and it’s a big safety issue,” said Al Jazeera, a former Hong Kong-based Hong Kong-based transport operator Cathay Pacific. “Now would I put my family on a Cathay Pacific passenger plane knowing what the boys were going through? Really? No.”

The former pilot, Cathay Pacific last year, said the absence of the incident so far was evidence of “very good pilots” employed by the airline.

“If there has been an incident with Cathay now, or if it has been in the last six months, or if it will be in the next six months, that will be the main and main issue,” the pilot said. “What was the mental state of the boys on those planes, and how many holes in the Swiss cheese were in the line?”

Another pilot who left Cathay Pacific last year to work in the United States told Al Jazeera that the current situation posed a “major security issue.”

“Aircraft crews are in an endless cycle of work / isolation, aspects of life that are essential for relaxation, exercise, socialization, health and well-being,” said the pilot.

“From day one, pilots are taught the dangers of distraction. It is important to keep out-of-the-way problems outside the aircraft carrier to keep a close eye on the critical safety tasks at hand, “he said.” I hope no one cracks, but people are very distracted and emotionally tired. “

A Hong Kong Airlines pilot, who resigned from several co-workers and called on a sick man to avoid flying, told Al Jazeera that although he did not expect an accident that would cause a “burning hole in the ground”, he could see one. events such as landing a tail blow or crossing a runway.

“My concern is that if the times were normal, the crew would probably be able to deal with it more safely and accurately,” said the pilot, who has not flown since the pandemic began. “But now with all this extra pressure and a closed loop, their confidence in overcoming is reduced. That’s my concern.”

Several pilots say the risk has been exacerbated by the introduction of a new contract by Cathay Pacific in 2020, which would reduce the profits of less-flying crews by up to 50 per cent, encouraging workers to make closed-circle lists to complete flight time.

“Can you imagine the pressure on pilots to go to work, even if they don’t have to go to work?” A pilot in a European country currently working on Cathay Pacific told Al Jazeera. “That’s the main security issue, I think.”

A spokesman for the Hong Kong Civil Aviation Department told Al Jazeera that the planes were legally banned from working unless they reasonably suspected that they were not mentally or physically flying.

“In other words, [the] the individual crew member is responsible for reporting the incapacity for duty, if any. As [for] To protect the well-being of crew members, the CAD says all local airlines are offering a mental health assistance program so that they can provide help or advice to crew members who need it and on time, ”the spokesperson said.

“Airlines should take appropriate measures to comply with public health and flight safety requirements. The CAD will continue to monitor their arrangements to ensure that the safety of the aircraft is not compromised.”

A spokesman for Cathay Pacific acknowledged that the rules of the pandemic “are putting a burden on our aircraft crews, who have been exemplary in their behavior and professionalism during this difficult time.”

“The environment has been challenging for everyone, especially our aircraft crews. We continue to help our teams manage what we can control, such as free time periods after closed-list list models, economic incentives and opportunities for long-term leave.” ”Said the spokesperson. “We hold bi-weekly sessions of senior management to discuss and share concerns, and we are in contact with pilots who are in constant contact with the pilots. “.

The spokesman added that the aircraft crew could be taken out of closed traffic “without any damage at any time”.

A spokesman for the Hong Kong Airport Authority said the government had implemented pandemic policies, but the airport “maintains close communication with the airport’s business partners” to comply with the forty rules.

“Prison-like conditions”

Trevor Bock, an Asian aviation safety adviser, said Al Jazeera conditions caused stress and psychological problems in “a role that required a high level of performance and concentration.”

“These prison-like conditions – being isolated in hotel rooms when returning from a trip and returning from a trip – are having a cumulative effect on fatigue and stress in pilots,” said Bock, who has counseling in Hong Kong and Australia.

“Many people have been suffering from this for two years now, especially pilots, which affects not only morale but also motivation, dedication and at the same time can lead to calming and reduced alertness at crucial moments.”

Under the “zero COVID” policy designed to unite with mainland China, Hong Kong has gone from being one of the most populous travel destinations in the world to one of its most isolated cities. Although vaccinations have spread over the past year, the city has repeatedly tightened its restrictions and quarantine rules, with little or no prior notice.

Authorities last week removed a number of existing quarantine exemptions for flight crew members when two Cathay Pacific staff violated medical care rules, forcing all non-mainland Chinese passenger flights to use closed-door staff.

Like other members of the community, positive crews are also sent to an isolation room until discharge (a process that takes at least 10 days but can be potentially unlimited) and then sent to another forty facilities for another. 14 days.

An air security expert from a regional airline with direct knowledge of Hong Kong’s conditions told Al Jazeera that the government was forcing carriers to “cross borders” to keep operations safe.

“The risks are acceptable, but we’re doing it a little more than we’ve pushed to the limits, a little more than what the rules allow in the past,” the air safety expert said.

Some Cathay Pacific pilots feel sorry for the government’s “zero COVID” policy failures [File: Bobby Yip/ Reuters]

The expert said that although airlines would refuse to fly if they thought the risks were unacceptable, there was no “unrestricted link to safety”.

“It’s not done to improve security, I’ll tell you that first,” he said of the city’s pandemic rules. “I don’t think the government really cares about what I’ve seen.”

Several international airlines, including Swiss International Air Lines, British Airways and Air Canada, have suspended flights to Hong Kong in recent weeks due to difficulties in complying with pandemic regulations in the former British colony since returning to Chinese sovereignty.

On Wednesday, the Hong Kong government temporarily banned flights from eight countries, including the United States and the United Kingdom, as a result of a community outbreak of the Omicron variant. On Thursday, Cathay Pacific said it would reduce cargo capacity and passenger flights by about two-thirds and 80 percent, respectively, until at least the end of the month after the ban and quarantine rules were tightened, South China Morning Post reported.

The pilots who spoke to Al Jazeera also described their frustration at not being able to keep the government from targeting zero infection, which many medical experts consider realistic and unbearable.

Hong Kong General Manager Carrie Lam last week called on Cathay Pacific CEO and President to express “great pleasure” at the violations committed by her staff. Local media outlets have also lashed out at the airline, according to an editorial published by the South China Morning Post on Sunday: “All Hong Kongers must now pay the price for Cathay’s forty failures.”

In 2019, Cathay Pacific, its largest shareholder in the British colonial-era Swire conglomerate, came under pressure after Chinese aviation regulators said it would ban planes from joining the city’s pro-democracy rallies from mainland airspace, warned then-CEO Rupert Hogg. workers would be fired if they accepted or participated in “illegal protests”. Hogg soon resigned to take charge of “recent events.”

“We take chances, we go to work, we bring supplies to Hong Kong and then we have to read in the newspaper that we are evil,” the European cargo pilot said. “It simply came to our notice then. We also know that if something happens, no one will turn their backs on you. ”