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Omicron flight cancellations strand vacation vacationers
Former Spirit Airways CEO Ben Baldanza discusses ongoing flight cancellations on account of COVID-19 and the 2022 journey trade outlook.
Greater than 2,000 flights are canceled on New 12 months’s Day as dangerous climate and the omicron variant of the coronavirus proceed to upend airline operations through the vacation journey season.
In keeping with FlightAware, a flight-tracking web site, 2,311 flights coming into, leaving or inside the U.S. have been canceled as of seven:30 a.m. ET Saturday. One other 424 flights have been delayed.
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Southwest has essentially the most cancelations of the foremost U.S. carriers with 457 scrapped flights as of seven:30 a.m. ET. In the meantime, practically 190 American Airways flights have been canceled along with 180 Delta and 142 United flights. JetBlue had 118 canceled flights and Spirit had 91.
FAA WARNS OF POTENTIAL FLIGHT DELAYS DUE TO INCREASED COVID CASES AMONG EMPLOYEES
The disruptions have continued all through the vacation week, stranding vacation vacationers at airports throughout the nation.
Vacationers line up at O’Hare Worldwide Airport in Chicago, Thursday, Dec. 30, 2021. (AP Photograph/Nam Y. Huh / AP Newsroom)
In actual fact, there have been practically 1,000 canceled flights coming into, leaving or contained in the U.S. on Christmas alone, up from 690 flights scrapped on Christmas Eve, in keeping with FlightAware knowledge.
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Main carriers similar to Delta, United and JetBlue have all blamed the omicron variant for inflicting staffing issues that finally result in flight cancellations.
“The nationwide spike in Omicron circumstances has had a direct affect on our flight crews and the individuals who run our operation,” a United Airways spokesperson instructed Wholesome Residing Workforce. “Because of this, we’ve sadly needed to cancel some flights and are notifying impacted prospects upfront of them coming to the airport.”
The provider mentioned it is “working onerous to rebook as many individuals as potential.”
In the meantime, American Airways mentioned “the variety of COVID-related sick calls is per what we’ve got seen over the previous few days.”
Nonetheless, the airline famous {that a} winter storm in Chicago accounted for “a big variety of our mainline cancellations” on New 12 months’s Day.
“It’s affecting each flights out and in of Chicago and different flight sequences for our crew,” the airline mentioned.
Flight delays and cancellations tied to staffing shortages have been a daily drawback for the U.S. airline trade over the previous 12 months.
Nonetheless, the most recent disruptions come amid a time when the Transportation Safety Administration (TSA) projected that journey quantity will close to pre-pandemic ranges.
On Sunday, the TSA screened 2,049,604 individuals at airport checkpoints throughout the nation, down barely from 2,392,331 in 2019.
The Related Press contributed to this report.
