The views expressed are the author’s and do not necessarily reflect those of Flight Safety Foundation.
Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, some governments in Asia have, for almost two years, implemented strict policies affecting flight crewmembers, including stringent quarantine requirements while away from their base and also upon their return, and draconian methods to prevent any form of human interaction even after vaccination and testing.
Rules for layovers are simple, and most of them state that crewmembers cannot leave their hotel rooms and cannot receive visitors. On the other hand, the home quarantine rules are complex and have changed multiple times over the last 21 months. The strictest conditions were imposed by a handful of jurisdictions, including Taiwan, Hong Kong and China. Working conditions are characterized by a back-to-back cycle of flight duty times of up to 20 days, followed by several days of quarantine, leaving crewmembers with only a few days…
