oneworld

Cathay Pacific Group chairman Patrick Healy has highlighted the difficulties the coronavirus pandemic poses for planning airline operations. The highly-contagious Delta variant of the virus is particularly challenging, affecting a number of key Cathay markets, including Mainland China, says Healy. “It is extremely difficult to plan and operate with the constantly changing environment that we’re in,” he says. “The one thing that is very clear, irrespective of the types of variants that we see with the virus…is the critical importance of vaccination rates.” Healy, speaking during an earnings call, says that Cathay has tried to set an example, with 99% of pilots and 91% of air crew vaccinated. <br/>

Two women who flew from Sydney to Melbourne while infected with Covid-19 have been thrown into hotel quarantine and fined $5452 each. The women were allowed to board QF471 on Monday afternoon despite having the wrong permits, it has been revealed. The permits were not checked before boarding at Sydney domestic airport. Authorities in Victoria checked their documents when they arrived. They discovered that the pair were from a red zone but were carrying permits from a green zone. In normal circumstances the pair would have been put on a return flight to Sydney but given the time of arrival there were no return flights. They were transferred to hotel quarantine in Melbourne and tested positive to Covid-19. Both were handed on the spot fines totalling more than $10,000.<br/>