4 driver
The -400 never did polar flights. I remember the company having a policy when the direct NY flights on the bus started of only rostering cockpit crew for one NY per month. The reason had nothing to do with rostering and everything to do with radiation concerns. It is the reason NY never got to be a permanent base at the time. That is a fact.
Rostering 20 hours of regional flying per month when the crew are in HK isn’t rocket science even with CH at the helm. After all the company does it all the time with all the other bases. Toronto based guys for example are doing on average 2 HK flights a month and regional flying when they are here in HK to build the magical 84 hours. There is no reason why this couldn’t be done if a NY base was started.