Flight cancellations drag on as airlines remain short-staffed
NEW YORK — Airlines continued to cancel hundreds of flights Saturday as staffing issues tied to COVID-19 disrupted holiday celebrations during one of the busiest travel times of the year.
FlightAware, a flight-tracking website, noted almost 1,000 flights entering, leaving or inside the U.S. canceled Saturday, up from 690 Friday. Over 250 more flights were already canceled for Sunday. FlightAware does not say why flights are canceled.
Delta, United and JetBlue on Friday had all said the omicron variant was causing staffing problems leading to flight cancellations. United spokesperson Maddie King said staffing shortages were still causing cancellations and it was unclear when normal operations would return.
Delta and JetBlue did not immediately respond to questions Saturday.
According to FlightAware, the three airlines canceled more than 10% of their Saturday scheduled flights. American Airlines also canceled 90 flights Saturday, about 3% of its schedule, according to FlightAware. American spokesperson Derek Walls said the cancellations stemmed from “COVID-related sick calls” and the airline contacted customers on Friday.
European and Australian airlines have also canceled holiday-season flights due to staffing problems tied to COVID-19.
FlightAware, which does not give a reason for why flights are canceled, said airlines scrapped nearly 6,000 flights globally on Friday, Saturday and Sunday as of Saturday afternoon, with almost one-third of affected flights to, from or within the United States.
Chinese airlines had many of the canceled flights, and Chinese airports topped FlightAware’s lists of those with most cancellations. China has strict pandemic control measures including frequent lockdowns.
Air China, China Eastern and Lion Air, an Indonesian airline with many canceled flights, did not respond to emails Saturday.
Spanish volcano: Authorities on one of Spain’s Canary Islands declared a volcanic eruption that started in September officially finished Saturday following 10 days of no lava flows, seismic activity or significant sulfur dioxide emissions.
But the emergency in La Palma, the most northwest island in the Atlantic Ocean archipelago, is not over due to the widespread damage the eruption caused, the director of the Canaries’ volcanic emergency committee said in announcing the milestone.
“It’s not joy or satisfaction. ... It’s an emotional relief. And hope,” Pevolca director Julio Pérez said. “Because now, we can apply ourselves and focus completely on the reconstruction work.”
Fiery molten rock flowing down toward the sea destroyed around 3,000 buildings, entombed banana plantations and vineyards, ruined irrigation systems and cut off roads. But no injuries or deaths were directly linked to the eruption.
Pérez, who is also the region’s minister of public administration, justice and security, said the archipelago’s government valued the loss of buildings and infrastructure at over $1 billion.
Windsor Castle intruder: British police arrested a man armed with a weapon on the grounds of Windsor Castle on Saturday.
Thames Valley police said the security breach took place at 8:30 a.m. The 19-year-old from Southampton is in custody.
“The man has been arrested on suspicion of breach or trespass of a protected site and possession of an offensive weapon,” Thames Valley Police Superintendent Rebecca Mears said.
Members of the royal family were informed.
Congo bombing: A suicide bomber attacked a restaurant and bar Saturday as patrons gathered on Christmas, killing at least six others in an eastern Congolese town where Islamic extremists are known to be active.
Heavy gunfire rang out shortly after the bomb went off, with panicked crowds fleeing the town’s center.
Saturday’s attack marked the first known time that a suicide bomber has killed victims in eastern Congo, where an Islamic State group affiliate earlier this year took responsibility for a suicide bombing near another bar in Beni that had caused no other casualties.
Among the dead were two children, according to Mayor Narcisse Muteba, who is also a police colonel. At least 13 other people were wounded.
Navy ship stranded: A Navy combat ship deployed to intercept drug trafficking in the Caribbean and East Pacific is stuck in the port at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, with a coronavirus outbreak among its fully vaccinated crew.
Only some of those infected onboard the ship, the USS Milwaukee, were experiencing mild symptoms, said Cmdr. Kate Meadows, a Navy spokesperson.
It was not clear how many infections involved the omicron variant, which continues to gain dominance rapidly around the world.
The Milwaukee had more than 100 sailors plus a helicopter combat crew and Coast Guard law enforcement unit on board when it left its home port in Jacksonville, Florida, on Dec. 14 as part the U.S. Southern Command’s efforts to fight drug trafficking. The ship made a refueling and resupply stop at Guantánamo Bay on Monday and extended its stay there because of the outbreak.
Meadows added that the sailors had been confined to the pier and had not entered the base since arriving.
Project Veritas: A New York judge has upheld an order preventing The New York Times from publishing documents between conservative group Project Veritas and its lawyer and ruled that the newspaper must immediately relinquish confidential legal memos it obtained.
The decision Thursday by
State Supreme Court Justice Charles Wood in Westchester County, released Friday, comes in a defamation lawsuit Project Veritas filed against the Times in 2020.
Months after the lawsuit was filed, the newspaper reported that the U.S. Justice Department was investigating Project Veritas in connection with the theft of a diary belonging to Ashley Biden, the president’s daughter.
In that story, the Times quoted the memos, leading Project Veritas to accuse the newspaper of violating attorney-client privilege.
Wood upheld his earlier order preventing The Times from further publishing the memos, and also ruled that the newspaper must turn over physical copies of the documents and destroy electronic versions.
The newspaper reported it would appeal the ruling and seek a stay in the meantime. Publisher A.G. Sulzberger decried the ruling as an attack on press freedoms.