Flights that were canceling did cause upheaval for holiday travel plans for millions of Americans. This situation has continued into today as storms in the Western United States further compounded the chaos. The Omicron variant of the Corona Virus is to blame by major airplanes for the disruptions. Moreover, 10,000 flights were canceled around the world over Christmas weekend.
Flights Canceled – Harsh Realities of Winter Weather
Parts of the American West, have, in fact, faced the really brutal realities of the winter weather. Also, in Northwestern Nevada, for example, the whiteout conditions have caused a 20-vehicle pileup Sunday, according to officials.
COVID-19 infections and the highly transmissible Omicron variant by Delta, United, JetBlue, Alaska, and other major airlines have blamed those issues for the travel woes.
Delta did say “winter weather” in portions of the U.S. and the Omicron variant,” in a statement on Sunday, were thus taking a toll on the airline’s holiday weekend flight schedule.
Delta said of 4,155 total mainline and connection flights scheduled on Sunday, it has canceled 161. Plus, more than 40 more cancellations are forecast for the day.
There were about 110 cancellations on Sunday, JetBlue said. Thus, the number is expecting to grow potentially that is depending on the crew availability.
Sick Calls Related to Omicron
“In fact, we have seen an increasing and alarming number of sick calls that are related to Omicron,” the airline said, thus adding it has gone into the holiday season with the biggest staffing levels since the pandemic began.
“A number of flights have had to be canceling, despite our best efforts. There are also additional flight cancellations and then other delays that do remain a possibility.”
Also, roughly 2,000 flights around the world were canceling for the day early today. Also, close to 629 of those flights, are expecting to have flown within, into, or out of the United States.
Over the Christmas weekend, the cancellations come as many around the world. More than likely they are trying to return home after visiting with loved ones.
On Sunday alone, there were more than 130,000 new COVID-cases that were reporting in the U.S. However, the holiday interruptions to testing and data reporting could have affected the count.
