Nearly six thousand flights have been canceled by airlines, and thousands more have been postponed worldwide for Christmas weekend, which is the full spread of the new omicron variant.
According to the Flightaware website, more than 2,650 flights were canceled this Saturday at 8:40 pm, of which 940 relate to travel to the United States, both international and domestic. More than 6,350 flights worldwide were also delayed.
About 2,400 cancellations and nearly 11,000 delays were identified on Friday, according to the same source, which already has over 900 cancellations scheduled for Sunday.
Pilots, flight attendants and other crew members were quarantined after being infected with covid-19, forcing Lufthansa, Delta and United Airlines to cancel flights.
According to Flightaware, United Airlines had to cancel about 439 flights on Friday, up from 10% today.
“The dramatic increase in Omicron cases across the country this week has had a direct impact on our teams and the people who run our operations,” the US airline said, assuring it is working to find solutions for injured passengers.
Delta Air Lines also canceled more than 300 flights today and 170 flights the previous day, according to Flightaware, citing omicron and sometimes inclement weather.
“Delta teams have exhausted all options and resources” before making the cancellation decision, the airline said.
More than 10 Alaska Airlines flights were also canceled, on which employees indicated they were “potentially exposed to the virus” and should have been quarantined.
Chinese Airlines are responsible for most of the cancellations: China Eastern has blocked about 540 flights, which is more than a quarter of its flight plan, while Air China canceled 267 flights, which is also almost a quarter of its scheduled departures.
These cancellations have hampered the desire to resume travel this year for the holidays after Christmas 2020 was hit hard by the pandemic.
