Cathay Pacific has announced immediate major cuts to its flight schedule, including cancelling passenger and cargo services to and from Hong Kong. The airline did not provide details on how many flights would be grounded but it said it would operate a skeleton passenger schedule in January. It comes after Hong Kong announced tighter Covid-19 quarantine rules for air cargo crew earlier this week. The move was aimed at tackling the threat of the Omicron Covid variant. Cathay pilots have previously told the BBC the restrictions have affected their mental health and personal lives. Late on Thursday Cathay Pacific said it was tentatively planning to cancel some passenger flights in and out of the Asian financial hub in the first three months of the new year. It also said that long haul freight and cargo-only passenger flights including from Europe, Riyadh and Dubai would be suspended until 6 January. Cathay Pacific had already announced last week that it would cancel some of its flights in January. The latest decision is likely to put further strain on the already struggling global supply chain. <br/>
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Qantas is finding that pilots who have not flown for long periods due to the COVID-19 pandemic are making errors such as commencing take-off with the park brake on, and need more time for routine procedures. The problems are outlined in an internal Qantas memo obtained by the Herald and The Age, and underscore the challenges facing airlines worldwide as out-of-practice pilots return to full duties after being stood down. In the memo, the heads of Qantas’ fleet operations say the two-year disruption from the pandemic had “created a situation where expert pilots have lost recency and experienced a subsequent reduction in cognitive capacity”. “Combined with reduced flying across the network, we recognise a flow on effect for flight crew’s focus and familiarity with the operation,” they said. “Routine items that used to be completed with a minimum of effort now occupy more time and divert attention away from flying the aircraft.” The airline’s flight operations team monitors trends and looks for systemic or repeat events, which they said was “especially important during the disrupted period of operations we have experienced over the last 19 months”. A summary of recent trends from Qantas pilot reports identified “errors” while planes were on the ground such as “commencing take-off with park brake set” and “misidentification of altitude as airspeed”. The memo cited on-ground “threats” such as switches on the cockpit panels being in incorrect positions and “exterior inspection events”.<br/>