Cathay Pacific moves to suspend long-haul flights

Cathay Pacific Airlines is planning to temporarily shut down flights to long-haul destinations from Hong Kong including Brisbane, Perth, Melbourne and Auckland. 

All flights to Australasian destinations except five to Sydney each week will be axed, along with flights to Frankfurt, Vancouver, San Francisco and Amsterdam, Travel Mole reported. 

The airline said it is taking the measures in response to plans to make flight crew quarantine for 14 days after overseas duty outside of China. It will start suspending routes after the Chinese New Year holidays on February 20.

The airline said the move is in response to new rules by the Hong Kong government requiring cabin crew to undertake 14 days of hotel quarantine plus seven days of medical surveillance after coming off duty.

“We are actively managing our crew resources to plan for our flight services for March 2021,” said the airline in a statement.

Within Asia, flights to Seoul, Kuala Lumpur and Ho Chi Minh City will be put on hold, but Cathay will still operate services to Taipei, Beijing, Shanghai, Jakarta, Surabaya, Osaka, Tokyo, Manila, Singapore and Bangkok.


Los Angeles, New York and Toronto will also continue and Cathay will operate one-way flights from Hong Kong to London.

The announcement is the latest blow for Australians abroad trying to return home after being stranded by Covid-19.