Cathay Pacific is the latest airline to implement a number of measures to safeguard the wellbeing of its passengers and crew. The airline implemented a face covering mask requirement on board for all passengers from May 15.
The airline said in a statement: “While the risk of transmission from one passenger to another onboard remains very low, we’re introducing an additional temporary requirement for added protection: that all passengers wear face coverings in situations where physical distancing cannot be maintained.”
Cathay Pacific said passengers were required to wear face coverings in situations where they cannot maintain a physical distance of 2 metres from others, or as directed by our airline employees. This includes during check-in; in the airport lounges, during boarding, in the aircraft cabin and during disembarkation.
It’s also strongly recommended that face coverings are used in high-traffic areas such as security lines and baggage collection areas. Passengers who are unable to tolerate a face covering, including children under six years old, are exempt from this requirement.
Travellers will need to bring their own face masks. The Centre for Disease Control and Prevention advises the use of simple cloth face, which can be fashioned from household items or made at home from common materials at low cost can be used as an additional, voluntary public health measure.
The cloth face coverings recommended are not surgical masks or N-95 respirators.
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Meanwhile, the Cathay Pacific Group has given its clearest hint yet of job losses among pilots as part of its Covid-19 "structural change" review, ahead of crunch talks in around two weeks, a media report said on Monday.
Alex McGowan, the general manager of aircrew, said in a memo to the company's 4 100 cockpit crew that the flag carrier's priority "is to preserve pilots' jobs where we can", the South China Morning Post (SCMP) newspaper reported.
Cathay has said upcoming discussions with the Hong Kong Aircrew Officers Association (HKAOA), representing unionised pilots, would involve "challenging conversations".