Commercial Fixed Wing
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP); Flight Crew Instrument; Flight Crew Multiengine
Communication Breakdown; Confusion; Troubleshooting; Time Pressure; Distraction
Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural FAR; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
General Flight Cancelled / Delayed; General Maintenance Action
Aircraft; Human Factors; Procedure
What was scheduled to be a challenging day; ZZZZ1-ZZZZ-ZZZZ2-ZZZZ3; 17+35 hours of duty out of a possible 18 hour duty day. 2+30 hour turn in ZZZZ and a 2+00 hour turn in ZZZZ2.ZZZZ is a COVID closed country and entry into the country requires an automatic 14 day quarantine. ZZZZ2 with similar restrictions; however an easier country to work with and good accommodations on the field once permissions where obtained. I personally made it a point to insure accommodations where available in ZZZZ2 in the event we had a duty problem.Unfortunately we didn't make it that far. As we prepared to push out of ZZZZ and the FO was strapping in; the FO's seat belt (waist strap tensioner) fell apart. Maintenance was called up and after approximately 1.5 hours after our proposed block out no repair was available and we were AOG.For the next 4 hours calls between the Maintenance Control; Dispatch and Scheduling where occurring. Nobody in Operations wanted to make a decision regarding the flight. But without parts we were not going anywhere. The Crew was sitting in the airplane in the heat in limbo. In the meantime there were restrictions in ZZZZ. You had to get a medical check to leave the airplane in order to stay at the airport hotel. This is outside of immigration and not subject to the 14 day quarantine. It was not made clear to me at the time that the ZZZZ medical personnel left at or near XA00 local. After repeated attempts to get someone to make a decision and our situation not improving I requested senior flight Operations Management be contacted. Once they were made aware of the situation a decision finely was made; we were AOG. However; at this late hour ZZZZ airport medical personnel had gone home for the evening and not expected back till the following morning.I informed the crew we were spending the night on the plane. They were told the earliest we could expect to move to the hotel was in the morning. Unexpectedly a crew bus appeared. 30 minutes later were we heading to the terminal for our medical check. Our ground handlers in ZZZZ made this possible. 12+20 hours on the plane from when we blocked in. 90 minutes later in the hotel at rest.
Captain reported the First Officer's seat belt broke delaying the flight until the next day due in part to operational issues caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.