More than 900 U.S. flights canceled as airlines dig out
Hundreds of flights were canceled Wednesday as the omicron variant creates havoc for travelers and for airlines that are having to cobble together flight crews as pilots, flight attendants and ground crews become infected or are exposed to others who have been.
Airlines canceled more than 900 flights in and out of U.S. airports Wednesday, a sign of continuing stress for the industry and travelers before the New Year’s holiday weekend.
That number has ticked higher throughout the day, according to data from the flight-tracking website Flightaware.
Delta, United and Jetblue have all said that the omicron variant was causing enough staffing issues that flights were canceled.
The highly-contagious new variant has intensified already significant staffing issues for airlines, which winnowed workforces in 2020 as air travel collapsed, only to be broadsided when vaccination rates jumped and millions of people felt comfortable flying again this year.
That could translate to travel headaches for hundreds of thousands of people if cancellations maintain the current pace into the weekend. The Transportation Security Administration expects the Monday after New Year’s will be one of the busiest days of the holiday season.
Skywest led U.S. carriers with 195 cancellations, followed by United with 158 and Delta with 103. Skywest, a regional airline based in Utah, has suffered an elevated level of cancellations after severe weather hit several of its hubs, but it’s reporting the same staffing issues due to COVID-19.
The Pacific Northwest was slammed with cold and heavy snow over the week
end. Among U.S. airports, Seattletacoma had the highest percentage of incoming and outgoing flights canceled Wednesday, according to Flightaware.
The problems began to mount the day before Christmas as carriers contended with staffing shortages driven by the fast-spreading omicron variant of the coronavirus, as well as foul winter weather.
Cancellations peaked Sunday, when more than 1,500 flights to, from or within the United States — more than 6 percent of scheduled flights — were scrubbed, according to Flightaware.
On Tuesday, airlines canceled nearly 1,300 flights, led by United Airlines, which grounded about 6 percent of its trips, and Delta Air Lines, which canceled 4 percent of its schedule.
The cancellations come during one of the busiest times for air travel and as the industry hopes to resume profitability after two brutal years for travel.
According to TSA checkpoint data, the numbers of people flying this holiday season far exceeds last year — before COVID-19 vaccinations were available — but still trails 2019 traveler numbers.
More than 13 million people have been screened at airport security checkpoints over the past week, according to the TSA, down about 18 percent from a similar period in 2019.
But while airline disruptions have grabbed headlines this year, the industry is on track to end the year with fewer cancellations as a share of scheduled flights than in 2019, according to Flightaware data.