Cathay Pacific said in a statement on Thursday (Nov. 18) that three pilots infected with COVID-19 no longer work for the company after investigations showed a serious breach of overseas layover requirements.
The three cargo flight pilots tested positive for the coronavirus after flying back from Frankfurt early this month, prompting the Hong Kong government to send about 130 cargo pilots into quarantine for 21 days.
"After investigation into these cases, regrettably, the findings indicate a serious breach of requirements during crew overseas layovers," the airline said in a statement on Thursday. "The individuals concerned are no longer employed by Cathay Pacific."
In a separate statement, the Transport & Housing Bureau said that it has received the investigation report on the three recent imported cases of COVID-19 from Cathay Pacific, and directed Cathay Pacific Airways to seriously follow up on a matter involving three locally-based cargo crew recently infected COVID-19.
It said that the bureau is deeply regretful of and can hardly accept the concerned cargo crew's non-compliance with the requirements of closed-loop operation during their layover at the outport concerned.
Though noting that these are individual cases, considering the severity of the incident, the bureau has directed the airline to follow up on the matter seriously and to make the best endeavor in preventing the occurrence of similar incidents.
The bureau noted that Cathay Pacific had implemented a series of enhancement measures upon request, including imposing daily post-arrival testing for returning aircrew, stepping up the monitoring on aircrew's compliance with the requirements of closed-loop operation during their layovers at outports, imposing more stringent restrictions on aircrew's movements during their medical surveillance periods and promulgating clearer guidelines as well as requiring all aircrew to receive the third doses of vaccines.
Considering that air cargo services are indispensable for the normal operation of society and for ensuring that the daily needs of citizens are met, the bureau has reminded all airlines to strictly comply with the anti-epidemic regulatory requirements and will continue to maintain close communication with the industry, it added.
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