6,000 flights cancelled worldwide as omicron strikes Christmas weekend
Dec 26, 2021: According to a flight tracking website, Flightaware, more than 6,000 flights have been cancelled worldwide over the long Christmas weekend as the highly transmissible omicron variant spreads.
The virus surge hurt holidays plans for millions. as thousands of flights got cancelled or were delayed.
To add to the confusion particularly in the US, severe weather in the country’s west is due to wreak havoc on roadways and other routes there, although it may well bring a white Christmas weekend to the northwestern US cities of Seattle and Portland.
According to estimates from the American Automobile Association, more than 109 million Americans were scheduled to travel by plane, train or automobile between December 23 and January 2, a 34 percent increase over last year.
As New York state announced Friday that it recorded 44,431 new daily positive COVID-19 tests, news on the weather front was bleak with unseasonably warm temperatures in eastern states, and a deep freeze being announced by the the National Weather Service for large parts of the West.
An NWS advisory says, “Anomalously cold conditions and a barrage of Pacific moisture results in prolonged periods of mountain snow and coastal/valley rain, some of which may fall heavy at times,” with 61-122cm of snow forecast to fall this weekend, with higher accumulation in some spots, in the northern and central Sierra mountains of California and Oregon.
Flighaware data shows nearly 2,800 flights were scrubbed around the globe on Saturday, including more than 970 originating from or headed to US airports, with more than 8,000 delays as of 01:30 GMT.
On Friday alone, there were approximately 2,400 cancellations and 11,000 delays, while Sunday cancellations have already surpassed 1,100. Flightaware data showed United cancelled about 200 flights on Friday and nearly 250 Saturday – about 10 percent of those that were scheduled.
Pilots, flight attendants and other employees are calling in ill or are in quarantine after being exposed to Covid-19, which has affected Lufthansa, Delta, United Airlines, Jet Blue, Alaska Airlines and many other short staff carriers. Flights were canceled during one of the year’s peak travel periods.
Airlines are in a scramble to reroute pilots and planes and reassignment of employees was underway, but Omicron’s surge has wreaked havoc on business.
Delta and United both issued public statement after the chaos peaked. According to United, “The nationwide spike in Omicron cases this week has had a direct impact on our flight crews and the people who run our operation, as a result, we’ve unfortunately had to cancel some flights and are notifying impacted customers in advance of them coming to the airport,”
Meanwhile Delta said, “We apologize to our customers for the delay in their holiday travel plans.”
The cancellations because of the pandemic struck particularly hard for many who wish to reunite with their families over the holidays after drastically reducing Christmas gatherings last year. Chinese Airlines canceled the most flights, with China Eastern canceling more than 1,000 flights on Friday and Saturday – more than 20% of its flight plan – and Air China also canceled its scheduled departures during the period.
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