The IAG group member British Airways is fed up with the complicated quarantine measures in Hong Kong, to which flight crews are also subject. The carrier discontinues the connections to the Chinese special administrative region.

The background to this is that numerous BA employees are in quarantine in Hong Kong. According to the BBC, there have been two flights in the past few days with one employee each testing positive. As a result, almost the entire crew is said to have been put in a state quarantine center. As a result, two planes could no longer leave the city, as pilots and flight attendants are literally stuck.

For British Airways, this is a complicated and, in particular, expensive business because, depending on the situation, replacement crews have to be flown in. In Hong Kong, however, these run the risk of ending up in quarantine. For the carrier, this is no longer a situation in which flights can be carried out economically. Therefore, the Hong Kong flights are discontinued.

In a statement, British Airways writes that it will support employees currently in isolation in China's special economic zone. You follow the regulations of the authorities and see the safety of passengers and that of your own employees as the top priority. Due to the Omikron variant, air traffic to southern Africa has already been discontinued.