Cathay Pacific's Response to SARS

Guidance to cockpit and cabin crews

Immediate actions:Although airborne transmission is unlikely and is not supported by current data, in the event anyone on board shows symptoms during flight, crews have been advised to:

• Provide the passenger with a face mask. Cabin crew who attend the individual will don face masks and gloves.
• Isolate the ill passenger in an area at the back of the aircraft, away from other passengers.
• Block off the vacated seat for the duration of the journey.
• Assign a dedicated toilet for use by ill passenger(s).
• Offer other cabin crew and passengers optional face masks if they wish to use them.
• Crew to consult with doctors on the ground through contract medical support.
• Advise all passengers and crew of suspect case on board and urge them to consult a doctor at any sign of illness.
• Notify destination airport and health authorities prior to landing.
• Upon arrival, ill passenger to be met by health authorities for medical assessment.

Follow-up:

• Passengers. Local health authorities to conduct notification and medical surveillance. Cathay Pacific to assist them in acquiring contact information when required.
• Crew. Public health authorities to notify Cathay Pacific of known infected cases who traveled on its flights. If advised of confirmed SARS cases among passengers, the flight crew will be notified and they will be quarantined at home for 11 days, and advised to seek prompt medical assistance should they manifest SARS symptoms. Under this special sick leave program, they will be paid. If local quarantine period is less than 11 days, the Cathay requirement applies.

All airline doctors at outstations advised that should a crew present with fever, cold, and flu-like symptoms, they will be grounded for the duration of the mandatory quarantine period. Ground personnel are told to stay away from home. (To date, no cabin or cockpit crewmembers have contracted the disease.)

Cabin sanitation

Done after each flight (prior to SARS outbreak):

• Interior surfaces including galley counters, passenger tray tables, seat armrests, seatbacks, light and panel controls, adjacent walls and windows, toilet counters and other common areas are cleaned with disinfectant.
• All aircraft leave with fresh headrest covers, pillowcases, blankets and headsets and are renewed upon return. All are laundered at a high temperature.
• Headrest covers and pillowcases in first and business class are changed for every sector. Fixed headsets are cleaned every sector and have sterilized earmuffs.

Done weekly (post-SARS outbreak): Air conditioning vents cleaned.

Done after a suspected SARS-infected passenger has flown: Exact methods may differ based on local health regulations, but in addition to all of the above, include:

• Aircraft water system and toilet system drained and treated with herbicide.
• Fabric seat covers on which the sick person sat, and the seats in the row in front and behind will be removed, soaked in disinfectant solution for one hour, air-dried, sent for dry cleaning, and suitably marked. These seat covers also may be removed and disposed of in accordance with procedures for dealing with hazardous waste.
• Remaining seats and carpets in the aircraft will be vacuum-cleaned and the collected dust incinerated.

Cabin air sanitation

• No change in cabin air ventilation rates or recirculation policies. According to an April 4 Cathay notice to crew, the airline explained:

"In flight fresh air is introduced into the cabin and mixed with filtered air in a 50:50 proportion. The volume of fresh air introduced is such that the entire volume of air within the cabin is replaced every 3-5 minutes. The recirculation [fans] ... optimize airflow during all phases of flight. Each filter plenum has a HEPA (high efficiency particulate air) filter element ... should the fans be switched off, the filters would effectively be removed for the system. The recirculation system is the only system that filters the air inside the cabin. The HEPA filters ... effectively filter out bacteria."

• Note: some Cathay Pacific pilots would like to see cabin air circulation rate increased to "high" during cruise, which on Airbus jets would step up the airflow by 25 percent (although at an increased fuel consumption reportedly around 0.8 percent). Air conditioning packs routinely are set at "normal" and operate automatically on "high" during climb, so the flight phase of concern to these pilots is during cruise. Although the HEPA filters will catch SARS-containing droplets, the screen size is larger than the SARS virus travelling on its own.

Guidance to ground staff

• Travel alert health notices posted at counters to remind staff of SARS symptoms and to refer those passengers who appear to be ill for medical assessment.
• For those areas designated by the World Health Organization (WHO) as 'affected areas,' all passengers are being asked three questions (Note: affected areas include Hong Kong, Singapore, Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) and Hanoi in Vietnam, and Taipei in Taiwan.):

Have you had contact with SARS?

Do you have any SARS symptoms? Symptoms include fever, chills, myalgia (muscle ache), shakes, coughing, shortness of breath, difficulty with breathing and chest pain.

Have any of your family members had contact with SARS?

• Passengers who show symptoms are denied boarding. Since mid-March, the number of such cases runs to the double digits. These passengers must acquire a medical clearance before being allowed to board a Cathay flight. Many cases of suspected SARS have been reported in flight, but none have turned out to be SARS upon medical examination at destination airports.