Air India receives Hong Kong’s fifth ban

Air India received its fifth ban on flying to Hong Kong after carrying more positive passengers on two consecutive flights. Air India is now banned from flying from Delhi to Hong Kong for two weeks, from November 20 to December 3. The airline has struggled with bans in other countries as well, as cases remain high in India.

Another week, another ban

Air India received a two-week ban this week after two successive flights on November 10 and 17 violated the city’s COVID-19 rules. Both flights had three positive passengers, triggering the automatic ban (more passengers on the 17th flight tested positive).

NEW: Broken Air India again banned from November 20 to December 3 by accumulating the fifth ban by the Hong Kong authorities from August to carry too much infected passengers from Covid-19: SCMP

Previous bans:
Delhi-Hong Kong
– August 18-31
– September 20-October 3
– October 17-30

Mumbai-Hong Kong
– October 28-November 10 https://t.co/HnaXHixq13 pic.twitter.com/ZJoDUF9QkS

– G-DLEE AVIATION 2020 (@JournoDannyAero) November 20, 2020

As mentioned, this is Air India’s fifth ban from Hong Kong in six months since flights resumed in May. This means that the airline will spend about 10 of the past 30 weeks under the ban on carrying too many COVID-19 passengers on each flight. Four of these bans concerned the Delhi-Hong Kong route, while one concerned the Mumbai-Hong Kong route.

In total, Air India imported 87 crates to Hong Kong. The airline received its first ban on August 18 after carrying 16 surprising positive cases on the previous flight. The upcoming flights have seen lower numbers but still high enough to trigger a ban.

Could Hong Kong tighten the rules?

Considering the recurrence of the ban, Hong Kong could consider stricter rules for pre-flight testing. Currently, passengers flying from India must show a negative RT-PCR test within the last 72 hours to fly. However, this requirement has still allowed dozens of positive passengers to transit in recent months, including on flights to other countries.

Dubai recently decided to ban tests from specific Indian laboratories, alleging them as inaccurate. A longer-term solution would be to introduce pre-flight screening for all passengers. This would mean that passengers are tested at the airport prior to boarding using quick or regular tests. Currently, both Delhi and Mumbai offer COVID-19 testing services for the airport.

Whose fault is it?

Another important question is who is to blame for these bans: the airline or the passengers? Speaking to the Times of India, an Air India spokesperson said:

“Only passengers with negative Covid reports can board from any destination in India. Another mandatory Covid-19 test is carried out for passengers after landing in Hong Kong, and reports of the same may deviate from test reports conducted 72 hours prior to flight departure. Therefore, Air India cannot be held responsible for any shortcomings on the issuance of passenger test reports.

Although Air India may apply stricter testing standards, it is impossible for them to monitor the actions of every passenger. Regardless of who to blame, Air India must find a better way to test to avoid yet another ban in the coming months.