According to American Shipper website, nearly a thousand flights from Beijing and Shanghai were canceled in recent days, representing over a third of the total flights. Two-thirds of flights were canceled in Xiamen.
These cancellations — due to China’s very successful efforts to achieve what could be called “Covid Zero” — come after the week-long Suez Canal disruption and an earlier month-long lockdown affecting Shenzhen. With cargo and flight workers in various states of quarantine and testing, staff shortages are now causing flight cancellations.
It is reported that Shanghai airport has adopted a schedule of seven days of work, seven days of quarantine at a government-provided hotel, and seven days of quarantine at home, before another seven days of work. This is to break a possible cycle of transmission. Chinese rules mandate that any pilot who leaves the airport — such as to sleep — must go into quarantine for 14 days.
