Transport

US airlines cancel hundreds of flights for third day due to Covid impact

Surging Covid-19 infections ground crews

Thousand of flights were cancelled globally over Christmas as the surge of Omicron cases led to personnel shortages. Photograph: John G Mabanglo/EPA
Thousand of flights were cancelled globally over Christmas as the surge of Omicron cases led to personnel shortages. Photograph: John G Mabanglo/EPA
Sun Dec 26 2021 - 17:26

US airlines called off hundreds of flights for a third day in a row on Sunday as surging Covid-19 infections due to the highly transmissible Omicron variant grounded crews and forced tens of thousands of Christmas weekend travellers to change their plans.

Commercial airlines cancelled 656 flights within, into or out of the United States on Sunday, slightly down from nearly 1,000 from Christmas Day and nearly 700 on Christmas Eve, according to a tally on flight-tracking website FlightAware.com.

Further cancellations were likely, and more than 920 flights were delayed.

Thousand of flights were cancelled globally over Christmas as the surge of Omicron cases led to personnel shortages. Photograph: John G Mabanglo/EPA
Thousand of flights were cancelled globally over Christmas as the surge of Omicron cases led to personnel shortages. Photograph: John G Mabanglo/EPA

The Christmas holidays are typically a peak time for air travel, but the rapid spread of the Omicron variant has led to a sharp increase in COVID-19 infections, forcing airlines to cancel flights with pilots and crew needing to be quarantined.

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Globally, FlightAware data showed that nearly 2,150 flights were called off on Sunday and another 5,798 were delayed, as of 9.40am EST (1440 GMT).