“The CHP (Centre for Health Protection) are taking home isolation literally,” the airline’s general manager for operations Mark Hoey told staff in a memo this week.

On the array of compliance measures the airline now faced, he added: “The challenges remain endless and we have to just keep dodging the bullets and keep going.”

Cathay Pacific’s flight schedules are continuing to disintegrate with authorities tightening pandemic rules for aircrew, which are seen as a weak link in the city’s efforts to keep Covid-19 at bay.

But they have led to a spike in resignations and fewer volunteers for staffing closed-loop flights, which means crew are away from home for several weeks on end.

Cathay has warned customers to expect even more flight cuts in January, which would mark the second straight month of reductions, blaming ongoing operational and travel restrictions.

“The new consolidated schedule will result in several flight cancellations,” the airline told customers on Wednesday.

In its latest cull, the airline has slashed flights to and from Australia by 90 per cent. The country – the biggest casualty of Cathay’s newest round of cancellations – was one of the few parts of the world where the airline was still operating a substantial number of services.

Only 23 flights will operate to and from Hong Kong and Australia in January 2022, down from 242 planned this month, according to aviation data provider Diio by Cirium.

Cathay will only fly to Sydney on average twice a week in January, down from twice daily. Flights from Melbourne, Brisbane, and Perth were axed, the airline said on its website.

Further long-haul cancellations were also earmarked for North America and Europe, sources said.

Cathay tightens Covid-19 testing for London-Hong Kong passengers to avoid ban

The airline had said it planned to operate only 12 per cent of its pre-Covid flight capacity in December, and the latest round of cuts signalled an even sharper reduction of services.

With no domestic services, Hong Kong’s air travel industry is wholly reliant on open borders, but travellers are subject to 21 days of quarantine on arrival.

Hong Kong has devoted itself to a zero-Covid strategy since the pandemic began as it focuses on securing the reopening of its border with the mainland, its biggest economic partner.

Omicron is the coronavirus variant that is currently of most concern to Hong Kong authorities. As of Wednesday, the city had confirmed 34 Omicron cases, compared with the mainland’s six.

Last week, Cathay’s third largest shareholder Qatar Airways spoke out against the restrictions.

Akbar Al Baker, Group CEO of the Gulf carrier, told the Post, the government measures were “killing” Cathay Pacific.

Henk Ombelet, head of advisory operations at aviation data company Ascend by Cirium, told a Wednesday press briefing that the region’s closed-off approach to travel was continually hindering the industry’s recovery.

“Asia-Pacific is going to be more difficult, it has been and will be one of the later ones to recover,” Ombelet said.

The airline also issued an update on its plan to operate flights from mid-February under a “China bubble”, in which services to and from the mainland are only staffed by a dedicated pool of crew.

Staff operating China services will not have to undergo EMS or daily Covid-19 testing, the airline told crew.