United, Delta Cancel Flights as Crews Fall Victim to Covid

U.S.|Over 3,000 Christmas Eve and Christmas Day flights are canceled globally arsenic Omicron spreads.

• Published Dec. 23, 2021Updated Dec. 24, 2021, 9:12 a.m. ET

Thousands of would-be travelers received the aforesaid troubling connection connected Thursday: a last-minute cancellation of their Christmas flights connected Friday and Saturday due to the fact that of the caller spike of Omicron cases, including among hose workers.

The fig of cancellations globally arsenic of Friday greeting added up to much than 3,000, the Flight Aware website showed. It was the latest stroke to the holiday season, chiefly caused by the caller and highly transmissible Omicron variant, which present accounts for more than 70 percent of caller coronavirus cases successful the United States.

Delta Air Lines said that it had canceled astir 135 flights for Friday aft exhausting “all options and resources,” including rerouting and substituting planes and crews to screen scheduled flights. It attributed the cancellations to “a operation of issues, including but not constricted to, imaginable inclement upwind successful immoderate areas and the interaction of the Omicron variant.”

United Airlines canceled astatine slightest 150 flights scheduled to permission dozens of airports connected Friday — on with 44 much that were expected to instrumentality disconnected connected Saturday, according to Flight Aware. Other airlines, including JetBlue and Allegiant, did likewise, though American Airlines said connected Friday greeting that it presently had nary formation cancellations.

In Australia, dozens of flights were canceled astatine airports successful the large cities of Sydney and Melbourne arsenic coronavirus cases successful the state surged to their highest since the commencement of the pandemic. And successful Europe, a spokeswoman for the Eurostar bid work said connected Friday greeting that due to the fact that of question restrictions crossed the continent, a tiny fig of trains had been canceled amid a driblet successful demand.

The United States is signaling astir 170,000 caller regular cases, a 38 percent summation implicit the past 2 weeks, according to The New York Times’s coronavirus tracker.

United said successful a connection that Omicron’s “direct interaction connected our formation crews and the radical who tally our operation” had led to the cancellations. Crew members person been calling successful sick, according to a spokesman, Joshua Freed, who said United had alerted customers arsenic soon arsenic it was capable to. And portion Mr. Freed said helium did not expect the hose to cancel much flights, it remained a possibility.

“We are truly managing this time by day,” helium said. “There whitethorn beryllium immoderate much formation cancellations for Saturday. It’s possible.”

In Australia, which has recorded much than 500 Omicron cases, galore hose unit members are incapable to enactment aft being identified arsenic adjacent contacts of affirmative coronavirus cases, hose officials said. Under authorities requirements, they are required to isolate for 7 days.

“A ample fig of our frontline squad members are being required to trial and isolate arsenic adjacent contacts fixed the expanding fig of cases successful the wide community,” a typical for Jetstar Airways said by email connected Friday. “As a result, we person had to marque immoderate precocious adjustments to our schedule.”

Staffing shortages crossed assorted sectors person been affecting services successful galore countries arsenic the microorganism continues to spread.

England said this week that it was reducing the fig of days that radical indispensable isolate for aft showing Covid-19 symptoms to 7 days from 10 days, a alteration that officials said could assistance alleviate the shortages. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention made a akin determination connected Thursday, though that alteration applies lone to wellness workers.