HONG KONG – Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific Airlines is suspending cargo flights for a week due to stricter quarantine requirements for aircrew, which could increase pressure on global supply chains.

Long-haul flights to Europe, across the Pacific and to Riyadh and Dubai are suspended until January 6, the airline said Thursday. He has promised to try to help customers “alleviate the disruption.”

The airline’s workforce is stretched after the quarantine for Cathay Pacific flight crews returning from overseas was extended to a week in a three-day hotel room.

Thursday’s announcement gave no details, but The South China Morning Post newspaper said the longer quarantine would leave Cathay without enough pilots for all of her flights.

The airline previously asked staff to volunteer for a “closed-loop system” where they would work for three weeks with brief stopovers in Hong Kong, but too few agreed, according to news reports.

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Cathay said earlier she would cut her passenger flight schedule in the first three months of 2022 due to staff shortages.