Omicron travel crisis: 6,300 flights cancelled during Christmas weekend
People who arrived on international flights wait to be tested on the first day of a new rapid Covid-19 testing site for arriving international passengers at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) on December 3, 2021 in Los Angeles, California.
More than 6,000 flights have been cancelled worldwide over the long Christmas weekend and thousands more were delayed, a tracking website reported Saturday, as the highly infectious Omicron variant brings holiday hurt to millions.
Compounding the travel chaos in the United States, severe weather in the country's west is due to wreak havoc on roadways and other routes there although it may well bring a white Christmas weekend to northwest cities Seattle and Portland.
According to Flightaware.com, nearly 2,800 flights were scrubbed around the globe on Saturday, including more than 970 originating from or headed to US airports, with over 8,000 delays as of 0130 GMT.
On Friday, there were around 2,400 cancellations and 11,000 delays, while Sunday cancellations have already surpassed 1,100.
Pilots, flight attendants and other employees have been calling in sick or having to quarantine after exposure to Covid, forcing Lufthansa, Delta, United Airlines, JetBlue, Alaska Airlines and many other short-staffed carriers to cancel flights during one of the year's peak travel periods.
"Help @united flight cancelled again. I want to get home for Christmas," one exasperated traveler from the US state of Vermont tweeted to the airline early Saturday.
Flightaware data showed United cancelled around 200 flights on Friday and nearly 250 Saturday -- about 10 percent of those that were scheduled.
A scramble to reroute pilots and planes and reassign employees was underway, but Omicron's surge has upended business.
"The nationwide spike in Omicron cases this week has had a direct impact on our flight crews and the people who run our operation," United said in a statement Friday.
"As a result, we've unfortunately had to cancel some flights and are notifying impacted customers in advance of them coming to the airport," the airline said.
Similarly, Delta scrapped 310 flights Saturday and was already cancelling several dozen more Sunday, saying it has "exhausted all options and resources -- including rerouting and substitutions of aircraft and crews to cover scheduled flying."
"We apologize to our customers for the delay in their holiday travel plans," the company said.
The cancellations added to the pandemic frustration for many people eager to reunite with their families over the holidays, after last year's Christmas was severely curtailed.
Chinese airlines accounted for the highest number of cancellations, with China Eastern scrapping more than 1,000 flights, over 20 percent of its flight plan, on Friday and Saturday and Air China also grounding about 20 percent of its scheduled departures over the period.
