Singapore Airlines (SIA) has stepped up preventive measures to protect its more than 8,000 cabin crew and its more than 2,000 technical crew (including the pilots).

An SIA spokesman told Mothership that it will cease layovers for its crew on flights to Beijing and Shanghai.

In other words, the pilots and cabin crew will do a "turnaround", and return to Singapore instead of staying overnight.

The spokesperson added that the new measure is scheduled to start from 7.30am on Thursday (Jan 30).

SIA operates 21 flights weekly to Beijing and 28 per week to Shanghai.

Fatigue & donning of masks?

Mothership understands that the Singapore Airlines Staff Union (SIASU) has negotiated with the management in terms of crew welfare.

This is because flights from Singapore to Shanghai, and Singapore to Beijing, are estimated to be about five and six hours respectively.

Turnaround flights with one set of crew will mean that the same crew have to work non-stop for ten to twelve hours.

The SIA spokesperson noted that "SIA is in compliance with regulatory requirements for our crew operations", adding that inflight and post-flight rest will be extended to the crew.

Mothership also understands that cabin crew has also given feedback to SIASU about the issuance of surgical masks on all flights, requesting that there will be no restrictions on where and when to don on the masks.

In response to Mothership's clarification, SIA said,

"Surgical masks are made available to our crew for all flights. Wearing of masks is voluntary and crew may wear them both in the cabin and on ground".

SIA has SOPs for in-flight medical emergencies

On Jan.28, SIA said that it already has standard operating procedures for “various in-flight medical emergencies”, which include “potentially infectious diseases”.

The SIA spokesperson also said that crew members on flights to affected places are given surgical masks.