Holiday travel plans for many are hitting a major snag after thousands of flights scheduled for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were cancelled.
Airlines including Delta, Jet Blue, Allegiant, and United Airlines have cancelled more than 3,000 flights on Christmas Eve and Christmas, as of Friday morning, per the flight tracker FlightAware.
The cancellations include 259 Delta flights on Friday and Saturday, 245 United flights, and 79 JetBlue flights, among others, per FlightAware.
Company statements from each airline attributed the cancellations to the spike in Omicron COVID-19 infections.
"The nationwide spike in Omicron cases this week has had a direct impact on our flight crews and the people who run our operation. As a result, we've unfortunately had to cancel some flights and are notifying impacted customers in advance of them coming to the airport," a United spokesperson told Insider. "We're sorry for the disruption and are working hard to rebook as many people as possible and get them on their way for the holidays."
"Delta teams have exhausted all options and resources — including rerouting and substitutions of aircraft and crews to cover scheduled flying — before cancelling around 90 flights for Friday," a Delta spokesperson told Insider. "We apologize to our customers for the delay in their holiday travel plans. 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."
JetBlue didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
Delta told Insider that these flight cancellations were due to a combination of issues, including the impact of the Omicron variant and potential inclement weather.
According to a report by NBC News, Alaska Airlines also cancelled 17 flights on December 23 after several employees were exposed to the COVID-19 virus. According to a statement from the airline seen by NBC, Alaska Airlines has not ruled out further cancellations on Christmas Eve.
Nick Calio, the CEO of the airline industry trade group, Airlines for America, wrote a letter to the CDC asking the agency to change its guidelines for how long vaccinated people with breakthrough infections should self-isolate, per reporting from CNBC. The CDC's current guidance says they should isolate for 10 days, but some airline leaders are pushing for it to be reduced to five, with a negative COVID-19 test.
"The Omicron surge may exacerbate personnel shortages and create significant disruptions to our workforce and operations," Calio wrote in the letter seen by USA Today. "Much has changed since the initial guidance was developed and issued in 2020 and we believe that variables such as vaccine rates, improved treatments, and mask mandates should be considered as the pandemic and science continue to evolve."
Airlines for America estimated on December 14 that holiday air travel within the US would triple in comparison to 2020, predicting that more than 109 million people would travel between December 23 and January 2, 2022.
The Omicron variant is now the dominant COVID-19 variant in the US. According to The New York Times' COVID-19 case tracker, there were 168,535 cases reported on December 22, a 38% increase from 14 days ago.
Early models from health experts suggest that there will be a steep and swift winter surge of infections, peaking in mid-January with between 230,000 and 550,000 new COVID-19 cases a day.
SOURCE: Business Insider
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