US flights are canceled ahead of New Year’s Eve Aviation News

Thousands of flights have been canceled this week due to winter storms and a shortage of staff associated with COVID-19.

U.S. airlines are already piling up cancellations, with 1,086 flights cleared as a rise in coronavirus cases has disrupted staff. Winter storms, meanwhile, threatened to disrupt travel on New Year’s Eve.

JetBlue Airways Corp. crashed 175 flights, 17% of its schedule, at 11:37 a.m. Thursday in New York City, according to FlightAware.com. Allegiant canceled 89 flights, which is 18% of its service. United Airlines Holdings Inc. cleared 192 flights, 8% of its schedule. By late morning, there were already more than 1,084 total cancellations registered as of Wednesday.

The disruptions came after thousands of flights were canceled over the Christmas holiday weekend and came earlier this week, along with a shortage of staff caused by the spread of winter storms of the omicron variant coronavirus cases.

“Like many businesses and organizations, we’ve seen an increase in the number of omicron patient calls,” JetBlue said in an email. To give customers time to make other plans, the New York carrier reduced its schedule to Jan. 13.

Although the federal guidelines that reduce the isolation period for many positive people from 10 to 5 days are expected to help workers, “we expect the number of Covid cases in the northeast – where most of our crew live – will continue to increase in the next week or two.” JetBluek.

United also mentioned the shortage of omicron-related staff, as did Allegiant Travel Co., which also mentioned safety and air traffic control issues.

The Transportation Security Administration said Wednesday it was investigating 2.02 million people in the U.S.

Atlanta was one of the most affected by cancellations Thursday morning and delays, according to FlightAware. Heavy rains were developing in the southeast and a flood warning was issued for the Atlanta area.

No relief is expected in the short term.

Heavy snow is expected in much of the West on Thursday, according to the National Weather Service. and more than 100 for Saturday.

Airs are unlikely to have a significant impact on earnings, said Helane Becker, an analyst at Cowen Inc. Most canceled flights will be booked and carriers may use larger aircraft to bolster service, he said.

“Airlines are doing everything they can to accommodate passengers,” Becker said in an email. “But as it affects earnings, we don’t think it will be significant in the fourth quarter results.”