Cathay Pacific has cited Hong Kong’s “strict quarantine requirements” as a key reason for low passenger travel demand into the territory. Releasing traffic figures for September, the embattled carrier notes that while transit passengers — particularly those travelling within Asia and to the USA and UK — were “a key driver for demand”, there was “very weak” demand for flights into Hong Kong. Hong Kong remains one of the few cities in the world sticking with a ‘Zero-Covid’ strategy — which sees a complete elimination of coronavirus cases — even as other countries like Australia and Singapore have abandoned it in favour of cracking open their borders. Cathay’s chief commercial and customer officer Ronald Lam adds: “We are continuing to monitor and assess the potential opportunities for demand from the relaxation of quarantine requirements for travellers flying to various markets, most notably the US.” In September, Cathay carried close to 132,000 passengers, more than double year on year, but just 5% pre-pandemic numbers. Capacity increased 40% year on year, but was down more than 87% compared to September 2019. Meanwhile, traffic more than doubled compared to 2020, but was down 92% against pre-pandemic 2019. <br/>
oneworld
Australian airline Qantas is being prosecuted in a row over the duties of plane cleaners in early 2020. A cleaner was told to stop working after he opposed cleaning practices on aircraft arriving from China. Watchdog SafeWork NSW accused Qantas of discriminatory conduct for stopping the pay of a worker who raised concerns about exposure of employees to Covid. However, Qantas said the cleaner was being investigated for "attempting to incite unprotected industrial action". A union called the prosecution a "landmark for work health and safety". Cleaner Theo Seremetidis was an elected health and safety representative at Qantas when the Covid pandemic broke out. Last week, he told an Australian Senate inquiry that Qantas' safety precautions were inadequate: "We were directed to clean planes with just water. No sanitiser for the trays, no sanitiser for anything," he said. "PPE was not mandated despite managers wearing HAZMAT suits. We were not even provided masks or disinfectant. These safety issues exposed workers in Australia, and more broadly, to serious risks of contracting and spreading Covid," he added.<br/>