As the Omnicron cases spread around the world, more than 2,800 flights were canceled on Monday. About 1,000 of them over 2,800 cancelled flights were within, into, or out of the United States. Almost 11,000 flights have been rescheduled.
Over 6,000 flights were canceled worldwide on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and the day after Christmas. More than 1,200 flights were cancelled and more than 5,000 were delayed in the United States alone on Sunday as crew members called in sick.
Alaska Airlines, which canceled 133 flights on Monday, accounting for 19% of its total operations, blamed the cancellations and delays on the cold weather in the Pacific Northwest. The airline announced that almost 250 mainline flights planned to arrive or depart from Seattle on Sunday have been cancelled.
The cancellations occur during the busiest travel season of the year. In a statement, Alaska Airlines said, “We’re working as swiftly as possible to get all of our affected guests rebooked on other flights while operating safely.
Last week, United Airlines (UAL) said that it had to cancel hundreds of flights due to a lack of crew members to safely fly all of its scheduled routes.
Delta (DAL) stated that it was striving to send all stranded passengers back to their homes as soon as possible.
“We apologise for the disruption to our customers’ holiday travel plans,” Delta said in a statement. “Delta employees are working tirelessly to get them to where they need to go as soon as possible and in the safest possible manner on the next available flight.”
International Airlines Affected
In the midst of record-breaking numbers of Covid-19 cases in numerous European countries, European airlines are also facing a minor number of cancellations.
According to a British Airways representative, the company has cancelled “a handful of flights due to operational restrictions,” and is instead employing larger planes to transport customers to their destinations, when possible.
As the new omnicron cases continue to affect the aviation industry, German airline Lufthansa has announced that 10% of its winter flight schedule will be cancelled.
Has your flight been cancelled or rescheduled? Comment below and let us know.
