Airlines cut January flights to cope with virus outbreak
Alaska Airlines said Thursday it will trim its schedule by about 10 percent for the rest of January at it deals with “unprecedented” numbers of employees calling in sick during the current COVID-19 surge.
The move by Alaska is similar to a decision last week by Jetblue Airways to cut about 1,300 flights through mid-january.
Alaska’s announcement came on a day in which more than 2,000 U.S. flights were canceled by afternoon on the East Coast, according to Flightaware. The tracking service said it was the 12th straight day of 1,000-plus cancellations, which airlines blamed on the virus surge and winter weather.
Worldwide, airlines had canceled about 4,300 flights.
Dallas-based Southwest continued to be the hardest hit among U.S. airlines, canceling more than 637 flights, or 21 percent of its schedule for Thursday.
“Southwest’s operation continues to be challenged by wintry weather, compounded by the effects of the pandemic dealing us another surge with the COVID-19 omicron variant,” said a statement from Southwest Airlines spokeswoman Alyssa Foster.
Chicago-based United Airlines has canceled 236 of its Thursday flights, and regional carrier Skywest, which flies for American, United and others, has canceled 248.
Alaska had scrubbed 120, or 17 percent of its flights. The Seattle-based airline said in a statement that “the continued impacts of omicron have been disruptive in all our lives and unprecedented employee sick calls have impacted our ability to operate our airline reliably.” Alaska said reducing flights through the end of January “will give us the flexibility and capacity needed to reset.”
U.S. cancellations began rising on Christmas Eve and peaked Monday at more than 3,200 — about one in every eight flights. Besides cutting flights, airlines including United and Spirit have offered bonus pay to find employees willing to work extra days.
These latest flight problems are coming as demand lightens up after the holiday rush, according to rating agency Moody’s.
“While high profile, the flight cancellations pose only a temporary problem for the airlines and the cancellation rate will decline in upcoming weeks,” said Moody’s analyst and senior vice president Jonathan Root in a note to investors.