Omicron cancels 6,300 flights over Christmas weekend trips Coronavirus pandemic News

More than 6,000 flights worldwide have been canceled over the long Christmas weekend and thousands more have been delayed, according to a follow-up website, as the highly infectious Omicron variant causes millions of holiday damage.

As the chaos of U.S. travel intensifies, the country’s severe westerly weather will wreak havoc on its roads and other roads, even as it could lead to a white Christmas weekend in the northwestern US cities of Seattle and Portland.

According to Flightaware.com, nearly 2,800 flights worldwide were cleared on Saturday, including more than 970 from U.S. airports, with more than 8,000 delays as of 1:30 p.m.

On Friday, there were approximately 2,400 cancellations and 11,000 delays, and Sunday’s cancellations have already exceeded 1,100.

Pilots, flight attendants and other staff have been forced to fall ill or in quarantine under the influence of COVID-19, which has forced Lufthansa, Delta, United Airlines, JetBlue, Alaska Airlines and many other understaffed carriers to cancel flights for one season a year. . peak travel periods.

“The Help @united flight has been canceled again. I want to return home for Christmas,” a Vermont U.S. traveler tweeted to the airline Saturday morning.

Flightaware data showed that United canceled about 200 flights on Friday and nearly 250 on Saturday, about 10 percent of those scheduled.

A fight was underway to target pilots and planes and reassign staff, but the rise of Omicron has turned the business upside down.

“This week’s nationwide rise in Omicron cases has had a direct impact on our flight crews and the people who run our operation,” United said on Friday.

“As a result, we unfortunately had to cancel some flights and notify the affected customers before they arrive at the airport,” the airline said.

Delta also canceled 310 flights on Saturday and has already canceled several dozen more on Sunday, saying it has “exhausted all opportunities and resources”, including the diversion and replacement of aircraft and crews to cover the scheduled flight.

“We apologize to our customers for the delay in their vacation travel plans,” the company said.

The denial added to the frustration of the pandemic for many people eager to reunite with their family on holiday, after last year’s hard-hitting Christmas gatherings.

Chinese airlines had the highest number of cancellations, with China Eastern banning more than 1,000 flights – more than 20 percent of its flight plan – on Friday and Saturday, and Air China also set about 20 percent of scheduled scheduled departures.

‘Treacherous’ snow conditions

The American Automobile Association estimates that more than 109 million Americans had to travel by plane, train, or car between December 23 and January 2, 34% more than last year.

But most of those plans were made before Omicron exploded, which has become a major strain of coronavirus in the U.S., flooding some hospitals and health care providers.

New York State announced on Friday that it had recorded 44,431 new positive COVID-19 tests every day, a record, and that the number of new cases also rose nationwide.

In the face of inclement weather, with warm temperatures bathing eastern states, the National Weather Service (NWS) warned of winter storm warnings, including deep frosts for significant parts of the west.

“Abnormally cold conditions and heavy rainfall in the Pacific can cause mountain snow and long coastal / valley rains, some of which can sometimes fall heavy,” the NWS said in a statement.

Snowfall of 61-122 cm (24-48 inches) was expected this weekend, with more accumulation in some parts of the northern and central Sierra and California mountains of California and Oregon.

Trips will be “sometimes impossible” from the mountains to the central Rocky Mountains over the weekend due to the snow-white situation, the NWS added.