Cathay Pacific dumps Australia flights over crew quarantine

A major Asia-based airline has axed most of its flights into Australia, ditching services to three key cities altogether.

Cathay Pacific has dumped services to Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth. Picture: Brendan Radke

Hong Kong-based carrier Cathay Pacific has become the latest international airline to pull most of its flights out of Australia.

From February 20, Cathay Pacific will cease services to Brisbane, Melbourne and Perth, and fly just five times a week to Sydney.

The halt is expected to be temporary as the airline manages strict new quarantine requirements imposed by the Hong Kong government.

Under the new rules, flight and cabin crew who have been away will be required to do 14 days of hotel quarantine followed by seven days of medical surveillance when they return to Hong Kong.

“We are actively managing our crew resources to plan for our flight services for March 2021,” said a statement on the Cathay Pacific website.

“For affected passengers, you will be notified and we are very sorry for this unexpected change to your travel plans.”

The airline has been among a handful that have continued to operate regular services to Australia throughout the pandemic, despite severe caps on passengers.

Data compiled by the Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics showed in November, Cathay Pacific conducted 123 inbound flights in the month, with fewer than 10 per cent of seats in use.

The low numbers of passengers have been balanced somewhat by the demand for airfreight between Australia and Hong Kong.

Cathay Pacific continues to be one of the biggest carriers of freight, in and out of Australia.

Since the start of the COVID crisis early last year, the number of airlines operating international flights in and out of Australia has fallen from 64 to 49 including six dedicated freight carriers.

Qantas has reduced its international services to special repatriation flights funded by the government, as well as cargo flights.

Last month Emirates abruptly cancelled flights from Dubai to Australia’s east coast capitals, citing only “operational reasons”.

Services resumed a week later leaving stranded Australians scrambling to rebook.

Cathay Pacific is expected to update its flight schedule by February 22.

The airline has also scrapped services to Auckland, San Francisco, Vancouver, Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Seoul, Kuala Lumpur and Ho Chi Minh City.