Two years on, pilots at flagship airline Cathay Pacific are so exhausted and depressed from working under one of the world’s strictest quarantine regimes that some are reaching a breaking point…

Since the pandemic, Cathay has adopted so-called “closed loop” flights, mostly for those traveling to countries designated by Hong Kong as “high risk,” such as the United States, India and the United Kingdom.

This typically means that pilots fly out for several weeks, cannot leave their hotel rooms upon arriving at their destination, and return to hotel quarantine in Hong Kong for another two weeks, according to the Cathay pilots who spoke to CNN Business. That is then followed by a further two weeks of isolation at home, they said…

The “closed loops” for such destinations are so grueling, according to the pilots, that Cathay has now set up emotional support groups for participants.