A combination of bad weather and a rise in omicron cases affecting airline staff have grounded more than 2,600 flights on the first day of the year. Flight cancelations have plagued travelers throughout the holiday season.
Saturday saw the most significant number of canceled flights this week. And more than 13,000 have been canceled since Christmas, according to Flight Aware. As of midday, more than 1,000 flights scheduled for Sunday had been canceled.
The Federal Aviation Administration warned Friday that the trend would continue amid staffing issues of its own. The cancelations and delays couldn’t come at a worse time as millions of people travel for the holidays.
“We expect the number of COVID cases in the northeast – where most of our crewmembers are based – to continue to surge for the next week or two,” the FAA said in a statement. “This means there is a high likelihood of additional cancelations until case counts start to come down.”
On top of coronavirus issues, winter weather is also causing problems. A storm is sweeping across the Rockies and the Midwest, bringing snow and ice. More than half of flights scheduled for Midway International had been canceled, along with 40 percent of flights into Chicago O’Hare International Airport and a third for Kansas City International Airport.
“The winter storm in Chicago is having an impact on our operations, accounting for a significant number of our mainline cancelations,” American Airlines told ABC News in a statement. “It’s affecting both flights in and out of Chicago and other flight sequences for our crew. The number of COVID-related sick calls is consistent with what we have seen over the past few days.”
The airline had canceled 207 flights on Saturday. Southwest Airlines told CNN Business that all of its issues had been caused by weather. Delta had canceled 196 flights, with United Airlines and JetBlue similarly canceling hundreds of flights.
