4,346 flights were cancelled worldwide by this morning, including 2,508 in the U.S. Airlines have been blaming cancellations on increasing Covid-19 infections among flightcrews creating staffing shortages, the Associated Press reports.
“More than 12,000 U.S. flights have been canceled since December 24…”
Saturday’s disruptions weren’t just due to the virus, however. Wintry weather made Chicago the worst place in the country for travelers, with 800 flights scrubbed at O’Hare Airport and more than 250 at Midway Airport. Forecasts called for nine inches of snow…
Among international carriers, China Eastern scrubbed more than 500 flights, or about one-fourth of its total, and Air China canceled more than 200 flights, one-fifth of its schedule, according to FlightAware.
“The nationwide spike in Omicron cases has had a direct impact on our flight crews and the people who run our operation,” United Airlines told Forbes — as they cancelled 221 flights on Saturday.
Forbes adds that Omicron “has continued to spread at an alarming rate across the U.S., with over 585,000 reported new cases on December 30 — a new record-high, according to the New York Times’ tracking data.”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.