Coronavirus: Cathay Pacific faces pressure to suspend mainland China flights, following action from the US, Singapore and Australia
- Hong Kong’s flagship airline runs three flights each a day to Beijing and Shanghai, but crew have warned they may strike if these flights are not grounded
- Most major airlines – including all North American carriers – have suspended their flights to mainland China until at least the end of February
Cathay Pacific is under renewed pressure from its staff to suspend flights to mainland China following action by the United States, Australia and Singapore to restrict foreigners who had been to the country.
The fresh call to halt the routes amid fears surrounding the coronavirus threat came as sister airline Cathay Dragon announced on Saturday it would be suspending flights to the mainland cities of Hangzhou, Ningbo, Wenzhou, Sanya and Haikou on February 2 and 3.
Australia’s national carrier and Qatar Airways on Saturday said their decision to suspend China flights was down to new entry restrictions, with Qantas citing Friday measures by Singapore and the US it said would affect “crew who work across the Qantas International network”.
Cathay’s cabin crew has warned they would strike unless Cathay Pacific Group stopped operating all flights to the mainland.
During the past week, most major airlines – including all North American carriers that fly into mainland China – have suspended flights there until at least the end of February.
Delta Air Lines will not resume flights until May.