Several Flights Canceled Due to Staff and Crew Shortages and the Continuous Rise of COVID-19’s Omicron’s Variant

More than 2,000 flights have been canceled as COVID-19 cases continue to spread.

If you’re looking to travel this holiday season, you might be out of luck. As of Monday, almost 2,200 flights have been canceled, and more than 3,000 flights have been delayed. On just Christmas Eve alone, more than 6,000 flights were canceled, CNN Business reports.

Some flight crews called out sick, leading to more than 5,000 flight delays on Sunday. This comes as airlines and the U.S. Security Administration (TSA) become overwhelmed with flyers. By Thursday (Dec. 23), the TSA says that it had screened 2.19 million people who were traveling.

Some airlines like United Airlines had to drop flights due to staff shortages, which resulted from the rise in Omicron COVID-19 cases. “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 told CNN in a memo.

Delta apologized to customers for the number of delays. “We apologize to our customers for the delay in their holiday travel plans,” said the airline. “Delta people are working hard to get them to where they need to be as quickly and as safely as possible on the next available flight.”