Omicron has launched hundreds of more US flights over the Christmas weekend by Reuters

Humeyra Pamuk and Kanishka Singh

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. airlines cut hundreds of flights on Sunday for the third day in a row as COVID-19 infection rose due to the highly transmissible Omicron variant, putting crews ashore and forcing thousands of Christmas weekend passengers to change their plans.

Commercial airlines canceled 656 flights in the United States on Sunday, in and out of the United States, nearly 1,000 on Christmas Day and just under 700 on Christmas Eve, according to FlightAware.com’s flight tracking website.

More may have been canceled, and more than 920 flights were delayed.

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

Delta Air Lines Inc (NYSE) was expected to cancel more than 300 of its flights on Sunday.

“The winter weather in the U.S. and the Omicron variant continued to affect Delta’s holiday weekend flight schedule,” a Delta spokesman said in an e-mailed note, adding that the company was “working to redirect and replace aircraft and crew to get customers there as soon as possible.” it has to be fast and secure. ”

When that wasn’t possible, he was coordinating with affected customers available on the next flight, the spokesman said.

Globally, FlightAware data showed that almost 2,150 flights were stopped on Sunday and another 5,798 were delayed from 9:40 a.m. EST (1440 GMT).

Omicron was first detected in November and now accounts for nearly three-quarters and 90% of U.S. cases in certain areas, such as the East Coast. The average number of new coronavirus cases in the U.S. rose 45% to 179,000 a day last week, according to a Reuters count.

Although recent research suggests that Omicron produces milder illnesses and lower hospitalization rates than previous variants of COVID-19, health care providers have maintained a cautious note about their predictions.