ASA guidance material to allow member organisation’s crew UK transit and a ‘quarantine exempt’ return to Hong Kong
The Hong Kong Government moved to ban passengers arriving on flights bound for Hong Kong in December. This included passengers who transited the UK for more than 2 hours on a connecting flight in the 21 days preceding their arrival at HKIA.
Initially all operating crew were also required to complete 21 days mandatory quarantine in a government designated hotel. Some local Hong Kong operators had their crews caught out with this short notice change. They still remain in hotel quarantine from pre-Christmas arrivals – where they only stopped for fuel briefly in the UK.
The Hong Kong Government (CHP) have now accepted that a short transit in the UK by the crew is permissible without the need to complete the mandatory 21 days quarantine on return to Hong Kong if they have NOT left the aircraft
In order to facilitate ongoing UK operations, AsBAA Member Organisation Aviation Safety Asia (ASA) has produced ‘advisory only’ guidance material for member organisations to consider when conducting technical stops/passenger drop off in the UK (particularly those that just require re-fuelling), in conjunction with using regions outside of the UK for crew changes where possible.
The information can be downloaded from the following link in ready to use MS Word format and utilised by operators to produce temporary operations manual amendments or Notices to Crew (NOTAC). The information is guidance only, should be assessed against operators existing processes and is being shared in the interest of reducing risk/quarantine periods for members during these challenging times.
Furthermore Aviation Safety Asia’s European Manager Ms Karen Hein-Jones (IS-BAH accredited FBO specialist) is also available to provide gratis guidance to operators/updates on local procedures, and to provide support options if required by members from the Cambridge Office (enquiry@aviationsafetyeurope.com)
More information:
https://aviationsafety.asia/avoid-21-days-quarantine-in-hkg-for-your-crew-uk-covid-safe-technical-stop-guidance-material/