KOCHI: Ever since the coronavirus forced nations to stop airline traffic, life has not been easy up in the air. But that has not stopped Shanid Musthafa, a commercial pilot from Kannur, from flying in and out of China and other southeast Asian countries for the past one month transporting medicines.
Though a licenced commercial passenger airline pilot, Shanid’s mission changed from carrying passengers to transporting medicines and medical equipment in the past one month.
Undaunted by all the strict measures put in place by these countries to fight the spread of the virus, he says social distancing, personal hygiene, and home quarantine are vital to containing the spread of the disease.
“There is no need to panic. We need to follow the isolation guidelines strictly to contain the spread of the virus,” Shanid told TNIE over phone from Hong Kong.
“Hong Kong has put in place a robust monitoring system to keep track of the activities of people who have been quarantined. Those coming from abroad have to undergo a mandatory quarantine period. Their movements are digitally tracked with the help of their mobile phones and chip-enabled wrist-bands. They are not allowed to step out of their homes. These countries managed to control the spread of the virus through such stringent measures,” added the first officer of Cathay Dragon, a premium, full-service regional airline.
He said the airline, which is part of the Cathay Pacific Group, also had to introduce a lot of safety rules in the wake of COVID pandemic.
“The company took the utmost care to ensure that the crew and the passengers are safe. We all had certain apprehensions when services to China resumed. We gave top-most priority to personal hygiene and started delivering our job. We know that our service is required the most at this time of crisis,” he said.
“A major change is that we no longer have any layovers at any of the destinations we fly to,” he added. Before joining Cathay Group, Shanid was a first officer with Jet Airways.
It’s been over a month since he met his wife and kid, who are stuck in Mysuru.
“They were with me in Hong Kong. But as part of a course, my wife had to do an internship in Mysuru. So, she along with our son relocated to Mysuru in February. Right now, they are stuck there. Based on the government’s decision on lockdown and the opening of airways for passenger airlines, I will make the plans to meet them,” said Shanid.