Breaking: American + United Suspend Hong Kong Flights - Live and Let's Fly

American Airlines and United Airlines have suspended Hong Kong flights until August 5, 2020 due to new crew testing requirements that make commercial flights impractical.

This news is just breaking and Live and Let's Fly has not obtained official confirmation yet, though two insiders have independently confirmed the news.

One tells me that Hong Kong now requires airline crews to be tested on arrival and that they must quarantine until results are available...48 hours later. This presents an irreconcilable challenge for crew scheduling. Furthermore, the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA), the union representing United pilots, opposes mandatory testing for pilots.

United's Hong Kong flight was indeed cancelled today:

Note the reason for cancellation: "entry restrictions imposed by Hong Kong".

And American's flight tomorrow is cancelled:

JonNYC also reports that United has suspended Hong Kong service:

hearing that united services to HKG are being imminently suspended due to new crew testing requirements.

Today's SFO-HKG-SIN flight has been canceled due to entry restrictions.

And it looks like all pilots on layover in HKG have deadheaded back to SFO today.
UNCONFIRMED.

- JonNYC (@xJonNYC) July 8, 2020

Mark this news as developing, but if you had planned to travel to Hong Kong (or Singapore on United since the Singapore flight travels via Hong Kong), you may find yourself grounded for the rest of the month. No word yet on how this impacts Cathay Pacific.