Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific Cargo said the latest announcement of the government to ease the 21-day quarantine requirement for local-based aircrew members will remove a major operational burden on the carrier and allow it to "gradually" resume its full freighter services. 

In a statement, the cargo arm of Cathay Pacific said the restrictions were lifted on April 16 after it was earlier implemented on February 20 in a bid to quell the rising number of coronavirus cases in the financial hub back then. 

"The mandatory quarantine requirement for Hong Kong-based freighter and cargo-only passenger flight aircrew will be lifted for those aircrews who are fully vaccinated," Cathay Pacific Cargo said, noting that this, however, excludes aircrew that layover in the United Kingdom and South Africa.

"In addition to the Anchorage exemption, all freighter crew that layover in Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, Japan, and Thailand will no longer be subject to mandatory quarantine on return to Hong Kong," it added.

Cathay Cargo noted the above changes are applicable to aircrew returning to Hong Kong after 0000 hrs on April 16. However, crew members in the above groups who were in quarantine at 0000 hrs on April 16 will have to complete their full quarantine periods.

Restoration of full freighter operations 

 
"We welcome the Hong Kong SAR Government’s announcement. These changes enable us to increase our freighter and cargo-only passenger flight operations with immediate effect and gradually restore our full freighter schedule," the cargo carrier added.

Meanwhile, it said that it will be "reviewing crew resources for May" and will announce Cathay Pacific Cargo's May freighter schedule as soon as possible.

 
"We are acutely aware of the impact these measures have had on our partners and shippers ... we look forward to restoring our full market presence as soon as possible," Cathay said. 

Aside from Cathay, other all-cargo airlines — such as FedEx — are also set to benefit from the relaxation of crew quarantine rules.

Ahead of the tighter quarantine rules for aircrew, FedEx has earlier relocated all of its Hong Kong-based staff to San Francisco, in a move that it said would both burden its local staff and incur additional costs to the company.

Hong Kong's earlier required all local-based aircrew to quarantine for up to 21 days when returning from an international flight — with the exception of services from Anchorage, where Cathay Pacific operates a significant transhipment operation.

But the revised easing of the health restrictions would essentially increase the number of pilots and cabin crew available to airlines, which means they'll be able to operate more flights.

The additional capacity is also expected to help shippers that are currently struggling to find available airlift for their shipments as capacity is unable to cope with the extremely high shipping demand boosted by Covid-19-related reductions in passenger fleets that served as a major mode of cargo transport.