Here We Go Again

Today Lam announced tough measures to contain Omicron

Hong Kong is on the cusp of the fifth wave with several local cases of Omicron in the community, and the government has clamped down hard with some severe measures. Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor held the 3.30pm press conference that the entire city tuned in to hear and it was bad news.

From midnight January 7-20, all restaurants must close by 6pm until 5am, and depending on if it is a B, C, or D restaurant, there will be two, four and six people per table respectively. Large gatherings of any kind are banned, bars, venues with live music, karaoke, dancing, gyms, swimming pools, gaming arcades, government-run leisure buildings are all shut for two weeks.

In addition all "cruises to no where", local tours are banned, as well as visits to elderly homes and hospitals, mahjong parlours and cinemas.

Nine on this cruise ship are a possible cluster

Hardly anyone will be able to enter Hong Kong, as eight countries have been banned from returning to the city from January 8 for two weeks: Australia, Canada, France, India, Pakistan, the Philippines, the US and UK, including via transit. 

My colleagues were in a bitter mood when they heard the news. One joked he was doing "Dry January" anyway -- where he had stopped drinking for a month to give his liver a break. Another was more sanguine, saying Hong Kong International Airport's third runway could be used to build a quarantine camp since there were no more flights coming and going. Golf carts would be needed to get around...

While Lam hoped these strict measures will help contain the virus in time for Chinese New Year, after having been through this so many times, Hongkongers are not holding their breath. It could be months before Omicron is contained.

It also demonstrates the Zero-Covid strategy is practically impossible to achieve -- there needs to be an increase in the number of vaccinations and an acceptance of the reality that the virus will continue to be in the community one way or another.

Events like the Cyclothon is cancelled 

One piece of good news was that just over 50 percent of all seniors in Hong Kong have had at least one jab, though that means some 593,000 over 70 years of age have yet to be vaccinated.

That compares to 38,000 seniors in Singapore yet to be inoculated, which has a population of 5.6 million.

The other bit of relief for parents was that schooling has not been affected -- yet -- as Lam hoped to avoid as little disruption to classes as much as possible. 

She said the tough measures would be reviewed again on January 14 to see how well they were working or if even harsher measures needed to be adopted.

Health experts believe there could be up to 10 transmission chains already in the community. The cluster at Moon Palace restaurant has grown to six, and another cluster of nine people on board a cruise ship with 2,500 people; the ship had to turn around and come back a day earlier. There is also a possible dancing cluster -- again...

Restaurants must close by 6pm again

Meanwhile there are very long lines at vaccination centres to get either the first, second or third jab.

The government was caught flat-footed in anticipating demand for vaccines. Secretary for Civil Service Patrick Nip Tak-kuen will be questioned for sure on why the government has not prepared for the onslaught of people wanting to get jabbed. 

In the meantime people are disappointed 2022 has already started badly and wonder will happen in the next 360 days...

Cathay Pacific's Deep Cuts to Survive

Cathay Pacific is cutting 8,500 jobs, mostly in Hong Kong

The news of Cathay Pacific cutting 8,500 jobs was a huge bombshell today, but to be expected, considering the airline does not expect flying volume to recover until the second half of 2021.

The airline does not see recovery until mid-2021

This means Cathay Dragon (formerly Dragon Air) is immediately shut down, with 2,000 cabin crew and 550 pilots affected. Another 4,000 cabin crew, 600 pilots and 700 ground crew will be made redundant, mostly in Hong Kong.

Cathay Dragon flew 48 aircraft to 51 destinations, 23 of which were on the Chinese mainland, about 370 flights per week to China.

The massive cuts are the airline's HK$2.2 billion (US$284 million) bid to restructure the company despite getting HK$39 billion in a bailout in June and a HK$27.3 billion injection from the Hong Kong government to keep the airline going during the pandemic.

Chairman Patrick Healy made the announcement today, apologizing for the "great distress and anxiety", but that the company had done everything it could to avoid the cuts, and they had to be made to "secure the survival of this incredible 74-year-old company".

Healy said cuts were a bid to keep airline alive

He said Cathay Dragon was being sacrificed so that the company could focus on creating a "world-leading travel brand in Cathay Pacific", and a single "low-cost leisure brand in Hong Kong Express".

The chairman said the decision to part ways with "such a large number of our outstanding colleagues is heart-wrenching... and nothing would give us greater pleasure than to be able to hire back the people we are losing today when we return to growth in the future".

It's a terrible and difficult decision to make, but it had to be done. However, aviation experts say Cathay should have made these cuts much earlier like other airlines to stop bleeding cash and stay as lean as possible. For example back in August, British Airways cut 12,000 jobs and reduced wages.

Nevertheless, many flight attendants have moved on to other jobs. I heard last night from a friend that his Cathay friends have gotten jobs in hotels or restaurants, or are selling insurance.

Some flight crew have already changed careers

All these people have had great training and would be a good asset to any hospitality business, if they can take on any more staff.

Most flight attendants know their job was not forever, but announcement this will be harder for pilots to stomach, who have a specialized skill and were used to being paid well, between HK$3 million to HK$4.5 million.

Of those who are retained, they will have a week to decide if they want to continue working for Cathay, and if they do, will have to accept much lower packages by 40 to 60 percent than they are used to, putting them in line with Singapore Airlines.

It's tough times for everyone, and the airline industry is bearing the brunt of the effects of the coronavirus pandemic, with Cathay's passenger numbers in September plunging 98.1 percent from the same month last year. 

The pandemic has been especially hard for Cathay and Singapore Airlines, which don't have any domestic routes, which is why last week's announcement of a travel bubble between Hong Kong and Singapore was welcomed.

Cathay Dragon (right) has ceased operations

Cathay's announcement will also have a knock-on affect other industries tied to the airline, such as suppliers for catering, companies that produce in-flight magazines and other printed materials, cleaners, drivers who ferried flight crews, and of course the tourism industry.

It's a massive shakeup but it needed to be done. Other industries need to look at how they can be as lean as possible too. Everyone has to play survival of the fittest, which will surely affect people's mental health and well being.

But remember: we are all in this together. And for some, this change will be good. 

Still Wearing Skirts? It's 2018

Cathay Pacific uniforms have evolved over the years, but not the skirts

It's hard to believe but in 2018, female flight attendants on Cathay Pacific and Cathay Dragon are asking management to be able to wear trousers as an option for their uniform.

"The stereotype of the flight attendant is very old-style already: looking pretty, full make-up and wearing a skirt. It is a good time to have a revamp of our image," says Vera Wu Yee-mei, chairwoman of the Cathay Pacific Flight Attendants Union, representing 7,200 members.

Wearing skirts in a cold climate is hardly practical

The flight attendants have good reason to ask to wear trousers -- some destinations they fly to can be very cold in the winter -- snow even -- so wearing skirts is hardly practical. And how is wearing skirts a good idea in crisis situations? Hardly seems so.

Oh and also their blouses are on the short side so whenever they reach up, sometimes skin is revealed... it has been an ongoing complaint for years. Doesn't management listen to their concerns? Or was saving money on an extra inch of fabric per blouse an issue more important than someone's dignity?

The job of a flight attendant is hardly glamorous -- serving drinks and meals to passengers strapped in seats for hours on end. There's also the task of cleaning washrooms, and dealing with rude behaviour on the flight.

Hong Kong Airlines also has a skirt-only rule

But Cathay Pacific is hardly the only airline in Hong Kong to have the skirt-only rule -- Hong Kong Airlines and Hong Kong Express also have uniforms where women must wear skirts.

This just proves that men are ruling the boardroom and have no idea or empathy for what their female staff go through on a daily basis. When is this ignorance going to end?

North American and European airlines have allowed female flight attendants the option to wear trousers for years. Surely it's time for Hong Kong to catch up?

Lessons Learned from Rocky Ride

One of 22 passengers on AC 088 who was sent to hospital to treat injuries

The Transportation Safety Board of Canada says two investigators are continuing to  look into what happened when severe turbulence hit an Air Canada flight 088 from Shanghai to Toronto where the flight was diverted to Calgary.

Twenty-one passengers were sent to hospital with seriously injuries, while the rest were eventually flown back to Toronto.

Described as "the flight from hell", the 332 passengers and 19 crew experienced 40 minutes of severe turbulence, estimated to be when the plane was over Alaska. Some passengers reported people were thrown out of their seats and hit the ceiling.

At one point oxygen masks came down from the ceiling

If that is the case, then they were the ones who did not wear seat belts. It is believed many of them were probably Chinese.

Several flight attendants have told me over the years how difficult it is to deal with Chinese passengers, particularly from mainland China.

The flight attendants tell stories of parents changing their baby's diapers on the fold down table, or handing plastic cups filled with warm yellow liquid and dirty diapers, and the usual of going to the washroom during turbulence, or jumping out of their seats as soon as the plane touches down.

One who works for a Canadian airline told me today that he has to remind passengers that while he understands they may need to pee, going to the loo while the airplane passes through turbulence puts them at risk.

There was a big mess after the turbulence

He basically said if he was working during severe turbulence like the Air Canada flight, he would not be risking his life to go down the aisle to make sure everyone had their seat belts on. "That's what the seat belt sign is for."

The passengers who were severely injured cannot sue the airline because they were forewarned in Chinese (Putonghua), English and French to wear their seat belts ahead of time.

Hopefully the news of this Air Canada flight will be a strong reminder to all passengers that they really need to buckle up. They aren't necessarily going to fall over, but they might fall out of their chairs and up onto the ceiling...

China's Strangled Air Space

Shenzhen Airport is being punished for delays partly not of its own doing

Er... we don't quite understand why China's Civil Aviation Administration is punishing Shenzhen Bao'an International Airport for flight delays, saying they had caused "significant social impact".

Flight on-time rates have dropped to a decade-low, and now the airport in southern China is not allowed to accept new flights, routes and charters until the end of the year, according to the regulator.

The ban will affect Shenzhen airport's income as it makes most of it from charter flights, while it won't affect major airlines too much.

It also reprimanded Shenzhen Airlines and China United Airlines for a series of incidents in which a passenger opened a plane's emergency door after another fainted while being stuck on board for four hours waiting to take off.

Frustrated passengers created chaos in May after flight delays

Flight delays have dropped for the fourth consecutive year to just 68 percent last year, the lowest rate since data was made available in 2006. The flights were delayed an average of 19 minutes last year, an improvement of two minutes from 2013.

However isn't the authority punishing the wrong people?

It should really take this issue up with the People's Liberation Army, which controls China's airspace, only 20 percent of which is open for civilian use. And the air force has been using the air space a lot these days, conducting frequent drills.

"There will only be more and bigger drills. That will become the norm," said retired PLA general Xu Guangyu.

It seems not many people -- mainland passengers know that the PLA monopolizes the air space and only allows commercial flights to take off and land when it is done with training and such.

No one explicitly explains the reasons behind these delays and so mainlanders think it's the airlines' fault, when it's really the PLA. If they knew the truth, how would these passengers react? Would they be understanding because they want to be seen as patriotic? Or throw a tantrum they think they have every right to fly too?

What the airport looks like free of problems...

As a result there are horrendous delays especially in flights to and from Hong Kong to Beijing and Shanghai. Cathay Pacific is looking to cut down on its number of flights to avoid inconveniencing its passengers and staff, and even admitted having to load on more fuel in case the planes had to keep circling in the air.

That's why as a rule of thumb, many who travel to and from China on business always take the first flight out to ensure being relatively on time; going any time after that is no guarantee the plane will follow the flight schedule...

The demand for flights in China is growing exponentially every year and yet the flight schedule is strangled because it must follow the PLA's whims.

To make things even worse, Beijing's two airports will be closed on September 3 from 9.30am to 12.30pm for the military parade to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II.

It's as if the entire country must shut down to observe this event. While it makes nationalistic sense, it doesn't economically, particularly when China's economy is slowing.

'One would think the government would coordinate better with commercial airlines to keep the tourism industry running relatively smoothly, but until the PLA relinquishes more control over the Middle Kingdom's airspace, we're going to continue seeing frustrated passengers taking their anger out on airline staff, when it should really be at the PLA...

China has World's Worst Delays

Shanghai's Pudong Airport one of the world's worst in terms of delays

After my trip to Xiamen that resulted in delays going there and back, I'm not surprised to find China's airports and airlines were the worst in the world for being on time last year, according to FlightStats.

The US-based data provider on air travel found of the world's 61 largest airports, the seven worst performers for on-time departures were all mainland airports, with Hangzhou's Xiaoshan, Shanghai's Hongqiao and Pudong facilities taking the bottom three spots. Only 37.74 percent of flights left on time from Xiaoshan, 37.17 percent from Hongqiao, and 37.26 percent from Pudong.

These three airports were followed by Shenzhen Baoan, Guangzhou Baiyun, Chongqing Airport and Beijing Capital International Airport.

Japan's Haneda Airport had the best on-time rate of 89.76 percent of the largest airports in the world, while Itami airport was the best performing of 374 world airports of all sizes with an on-time percentage of 94.56.

Zou Jianjun of the Civil Aviation Management Institute of China said management of China's facilities had not kept up with demand and the network was concentrated in a few areas.

"Flight lines are too centralized in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, and it's a big challenge for their managers," he said. "Even if a small mistake happens at any of these major airports, it's quite possible that flights in other cities will be affected."

How about the fact that China's military controls the country's air space and only allows a fraction of it for commercial air travel? And with the boom in air travel, there are bound to be frictions between commercial and military interests, and the government has not resolved the situation.

This has resulted in not air rage, but ground rage, where passengers vent their frustration of delays on ground crew staff, and in a few instances things have gotten violent. Last February, a near riot broke out after more than 2,000 passengers were left stranded at Xinzheng International Airport at Zhengzhou, Henan province.

Is this how the Central government would like to see the commercial aviation industry develop? Some 390 million people traveled by airplanes last year, which is double the 2009 figure. Something's gotta give.

Nevertheless, Hong Kong International Airport dropped in the rankings too, down from 22nd spot to 80th last year.

No mainland or Hong Kong airlines made the top 10 list of having on-time arrivals last year. KLM took top spot at 88.66 percent.

Another crazy statistic from FlightStats is that if all the extra time passengers and crew spent waiting on the tarmac for flights to take off in the mainland in 2014 were added together, the total would amount to about 232 years. Even notified flight delays would add up to about 183 years.

That's a lot of wasted time! Imagine that lost productivity could have boosted China's GDP even more...

Passengers Behaving Badly -- Again

The emergency door exits were yanked open for some fresh air...

More and more Chinese mainlanders are traveling and it's a booming industry in the country even though there aren't enough pilots to fly them.

However these passengers are quickly gaining a bad rep for their manners on airplanes.

The latest?

Opening up the emergency door exits because the flight was delayed due to snow.

First there was a three-hour delay due to rain from Dhaka, Bangladesh to Kunming. Then passengers got angry when the ongoing flight to Beijing was delayed more than two hours, from 8.45pm to 11pm.

A previous incident where another person opened the door

Some passengers initially refused to re-board the plane, demanding compensation, but finally they were coxed onto the plane by 1.40am. However it took more than an hour to clear snow from the plane, so when the aircraft finally began taxing at 3.17am -- more than seven hours behind schedule, some passengers pulled open three emergency door exits, forcing the pilots to stop the plane and return to the gate.

A person on Weibo reported -- and then the post was later deleted -- that the pilot exchanged angry words with the passengers. The post said the air conditioning was turned off at 3am and some passengers complained it was hard to breathe, and asked to get off the plane for fresh air, but the air crew refused.

The Weibo post then reported that the pilot shouted: "Are you going to die soon? If not, just wait."

Then the plane began moving, catching some passengers off guard, causing them to fall over.

The incident has sparked debate in China, with some blaming the pilot for not handling the situation well, while others believe passengers should not be pulling open emergency doors.

There's another incident of an apparently illiterate farmer who was caught smoking in the washroom of the plane and was fined HK$2,000 and had to give up his travel documents.

How about some kind of explanation of why it's crucial to clear snow off a plane before it takes off?

Some women were caught in a brawl over a crying baby

Another well-known incident from last month was when four passengers made a scene, scalding the flight attendant with hot water from instant noodles and threatening to bomb the plane due to a row over seating arrangements.

Then there was the passenger flying from Hangzhou to Chengdu who yanked open the emergency door just before take off to "get some fresh air".

Oh and don't forget about a cat fight on a flight from Chongqing to Hong Kong about a bawling baby...

How is China going to teach its 1.3 billion people about airline etiquette and safety? It seems like the motherland assumes its children know how to behave on planes without even giving them instructions...

Or perhaps it's because the Chinese are tired of being treated badly by their superiors that now as passengers, they feel entitled to their idea of just treatment?

China, you've got a long way to go, baby

Flying into Aerial Curbs

Chinese officials will have to fly domestic airlines as much as possible now

Chinese President Xi Jinping's crackdown on corruption and excessive government spending has now moved to the airline industry.

The government has now ordered officials to buy discount tickets for business trips, with a minimum of 12 percent off the regular price.

In addition, the new rules issued by the Ministry of Finance and the Civil Administration of China says government employees must take domestic carriers wherever possible. One would have thought this would be a given!

If a domestic carrier does not have a direct flight to the overseas destination, then they should fly the domestic carrier to a nearby country and the change flights to get to the destination.

The new rules take effect on June 1 and industry experts say it's hard to tell what the immediate impact will be. It may be difficult to fully enforce due to travelling needs and availability of flights.

Or we could see some creative creative accounting where a ticket might be heavily discounted but an official only claims the minimum 12 percent discount....

It will be interesting to see if these latest rules make any if much of a dent in the airline sector. Last year the spending for official banquets, overseas trips and vehicle purchases plunged compared to 2012.

While the crackdown in lavish spending is good optics for the Chinese government, has it really resulted in more effective and efficient governing?

That's what we really want to know...