More U.S. flights canceled because Omicron exacerbates staffing problems Coronavirus pandemic News

More than 850 flights were canceled at noon on Wednesday, adding nearly 1,300 to cancellations on Tuesday, and about 1,500 on Monday.

Hundreds of flights were canceled on Wednesday because the Omicron variant is causing havoc for passengers and airlines that need to gather flight crews, as pilots, flight attendants and ground crew are affected by others who have been infected or have been killed.

More than 850 flights were canceled by noon on Wednesday, and that number was higher during the day, according to data from the FlightAware flight tracking website. Nearly 1,300 were canceled on Tuesday for entering, leaving or flying into the United States, and about 1,500 on Monday.

Cancellations began to increase on the eve of Christmas at this time of year for this airline, which is already booming.

Delta, United and JetBlue said the Omicron variant caused enough staffing problems when flights were canceled.

SkyWest had 195 U.S. cancellation companies, United with 158 and Delta with 103. SkyWest, a Utah-based regional airline, has had a high level of cancellation after severe weather hit several sites, but it is reporting the same staffing problems. Because of COVID-19.

The Pacific Northwest was hit by cold and heavy snow over the weekend. Among U.S. airports, Seattle-Tacoma had the highest percentage of incoming and outgoing flights canceled on Wednesday, according to FlightAware.

Omicron has exacerbated major staffing problems for airlines when air travel collapsed in 2020 when staff overflowed, vaccination rates rose and millions of people felt comfortable flying again this year.

This could cause travel headaches for hundreds of thousands of people if the cancellation is maintained at the current pace over the weekend. The Transportation Safety Board (TSA) expects Monday after New Year’s Day to be one of the busiest holidays.

According to data from the TSA checkpoint, the number of people who flew this holiday is much higher than last year – before COVID-19 vaccines became available – but it still lags behind the number of passengers in 2019.