Flight delay is very normal in China because of the air control and restrictions. Even if all the passengers are on board, we wouldn’t be surprised if we are required to wait for an hour or two before the plane is allowed to take off. However, things have become more complicated since Covid. During transit, our crew needs to disembark the aircraft and wait in a bus nearby while the cleaners disinfect the whole cabin.

In general, for a turnaround Hong Kong-Shanghai flight departing at 1:45 pm, we could be back at the Hong Kong International Airport by 10 pm. Unfortunately, accidents do happen. When we’re getting prepared to fly back home, we’re informed that one of our aircraft that arrived in the morning broke down at the airport, and the engineers failed to repair it even after hours of endeavor. So, their passengers and crew would have to join us on our return journey. We’re happy to take them with us, but the trouble was that it was necessary for the crew to go through another Covid test and obtain a negative result before boarding. That’s how the prolonged wait began…