FedEx to relocate Hong Kong-based pilots to San Francisco to avoid quarantine: memo

[HONG KONG] Freight carrier FedEx Corp will temporarily relocate its Hong Kong-based pilots to San Francisco because it expects the Asian financial capital to establish strict 14-day hotel quarantine requirements for crew, it said in a memo to pilots.

The company said it did not think it was appropriate to subject Hong Kong-based crew members to extended periods of isolation, preventing them from seeing their families after finishing a trip.

"While we don't know what the rule will state, when it will precisely take effect, or how long it will last, we do not want unknowns to prevent us from taking action on what we understand may likely occur," FedEx System Chief Pilot Robin Sebasco said in the memo seen by Reuters, which was first reported by the South China Morning Post on Thursday.

FedEx did not respond immediately to a request for comment.

The memo said the company would cover hotel costs and out-of-pocket expenses for pilots and their families in San Francisco, while continuing to pay their housing allowances in Hong Kong.

However, a Hong Kong-based FedEx pilot said on condition of anonymity that there were flaws in the plan.

Many pilots have children in school in Hong Kong, he said, and regardless, it will be difficult for families to live in hotel rooms for weeks or months at a time.

Hong Kong's biggest airline, Cathay Pacific Airways, on Monday warned passenger capacity could fall by 60 per cent, cargo capacity by 25 per cent and cash burn would rise if the new quarantine arrangements were put in place.

Cathay, in an internal memo seen by Reuters, requested volunteers among its crew who could fly for three weeks, followed by 14 days of quarantine and 14 days free of duty, adding that it would be a temporary measure and that not all of its flights would require such an operation.

Many foreign airlines are already double-crewing their flights into Hong Kong or stopping in cities like Bangkok or Tokyo to allow for quick turnarounds and avoid testing and quarantine requirements.

REUTERS