U.S. airlines scrap hundreds of Christmas Day flights due to Omicron

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WASHINGTON — U.S. airways canceled greater than 900 flights on Saturday, the second straight day of huge cancellations as surging COVID-19 infections have sidelined some pilots and different crew members, upending plans for tens of hundreds of vacation vacationers over the Christmas weekend.

A complete of 913 Christmas Day flights, together with home flights and people into or in another country, have been canceled, up from 690 on Christmas Eve, in keeping with a operating tally on flight-tracking web site FlightAware.com. Round 1,110 flights have been delayed.

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The Christmas holidays are usually a peak time for air journey, however the fast unfold of the extremely transmissible Omicron variant has led to a pointy enhance in COVID-19 infections, forcing airways to cancel flights as pilots and crew have to be quarantined.

United Airways canceled 230 flights, an organization spokesperson mentioned.

“The nationwide spike in Omicron instances this week has had a direct impression on our flight crews and the individuals who run our operation,” spokesperson Maddie King mentioned. She added that the cancellations made up a small portion of United’s 4,000 common each day flights through the vacation season.

“We’re working laborious to rebook as many individuals as attainable and get them on their method for the vacations,” she mentioned.

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FlightAware information confirmed that Delta Air Traces scrubbed 301 flights as of 1:59 p.m. EST (1859 GMT), whereas a spokesperson for American Airways mentioned the provider needed to name off 90 mainland flights. Globally, greater than 2,590 flights have been referred to as off on Saturday and a few 5,438 others have been delayed.

“Our operation has been operating easily, and sadly numerous COVID-related sick calls led us to make the troublesome determination to pre-cancel some flights scheduled for at this time,” a spokesperson for American Airways mentioned.

Among the many most impacted U.S. airports have been Atlanta’s Hartford-Jackson Worldwide, New Jersey’s Newark Liberty Worldwide, Los Angeles Worldwide and New York’s JFK Worldwide.

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Not all airways have been affected equally. A spokesperson for Southwest Airways mentioned there have been no points to report with the provider’s flights on Saturday.

The Omicron variant was first detected in November and now accounts for practically three-quarters of U.S. instances and as many as 90% in some areas, such because the Japanese Seaboard.

The common variety of new U.S. coronavirus instances has risen 45% to 179,000 per day over the previous week, in keeping with a Reuters tally.

Whereas latest analysis suggests Omicron produces milder sickness and a decrease charge of hospitalizations than earlier variants of COVID-19, well being officers have maintained a cautious observe concerning the outlook.

Forward of the Christmas vacation, People scrambled for COVID-19 checks and lots of went forward with their journey plans.

U.S. officers have mentioned that people who find themselves totally vaccinated ought to really feel comfy continuing with vacation journey. (Reporting by Humeyra Pamuk and Joel Schectman Modifying by Kieran Murray and Leslie Adler)