Airlines cancel flights due to COVID staffing shortages

By DAVID McHUGH and TALI ARBEL

NEW YORK (AP) — Airlines canceled hundreds of flights arsenic the omicron variant jumbled schedules and drew down staffing levels astatine immoderate carriers during the engaged vacation question season.

Delta Air Lines and United Airlines unneurotic canceled much than 600 flights connected Friday and Saturday. As of aboriginal evening Friday, Delta canceled had 149 flights connected Friday and 188 for Christmas Day, according to FlightAware. (Other factors, specified arsenic weather, are besides causing cancellations.) United called disconnected 189 flights connected Friday, astir 10% of its schedule, and 140 connected Saturday. Planned cancellations continued into Sunday.

Not each airlines said COVID was disrupting their question schedules. American Airlines said it had “nothing to report,” portion Southwest Airlines said “things are moving smoothly.” JetBlue, which FlightAware said had canceled astir 150 flights implicit Friday and Saturday, did not respond to a petition for comment.

Flight delays and cancellations tied to staffing shortages person been a regular occupation for the U.S. hose manufacture this year. Airlines encouraged workers to discontinue successful 2020, erstwhile aerial question collapsed, and were caught short-staffed this twelvemonth arsenic question recovered.

“The nationwide spike successful omicron cases this week has had a nonstop interaction connected our formation crews and the radical who tally our operation,” United said successful a statement. “As a result, we’ve unluckily had to cancel immoderate flights and are notifying impacted customers successful beforehand of them coming to the airport.”

Delta said it canceled flights Friday due to the fact that of the interaction of omicron and anticipation of atrocious upwind aft it had “exhausted each options and resources — including rerouting and substitutions of craft and crews to screen scheduled flying.”

The airlines some said they were trying to rebook passengers.

While immoderate travelers canceled vacation plans due to the fact that of rising lawsuit numbers, galore others kept to their vacations during immoderate of the year’s busiest question days. The Transportation Security Administration said it expects to surface astir 30 cardinal radical from Dec. 20 done Jan. 3, compared with astir 44 cardinal during the past vacation play earlier the pandemic.

Germany-based Lufthansa said Friday that it was canceling a twelve long-haul transatlantic flights implicit the Christmas vacation play due to the fact that of a “massive rise” successful sick permission among pilots. The cancellations connected flights to Houston, Boston and Washington travel contempt a “large buffer” of further unit for the period. The hose says it couldn’t speculate connected whether COVID-19 infections oregon quarantines were liable due to the fact that it was not informed astir the benignant of illness. Passengers were booked connected different flights.

Australian hose Jetstar said galore of its workers had to trial and isolate due to the fact that of COVID spread, starring to last-minute delays and cancellations. It said it has rebooked the bulk of passengers. FlightAware said Jetstar had 45 cancellations connected Thursday and 34 connected Friday.

According to FlightAware, determination are much than 3,900 canceled flights connected Friday and Saturday, with adjacent to fractional of the cancellations by Chinese airlines. About 30% of affected flights — much than 1,100 — were to, from oregon wrong the U.S. This is inactive a tiny fraction of planetary flights. FlightAware says it has tracked much than 100,000 arrivals successful the past 24 hours.

Coronavirus infections fueled by the caller variant person besides squeezed staffing astatine hospitals, constabulary departments, supermarkets and different captious operations that person struggled to support a afloat contingent of front-line workers.

To easiness staffing shortages, countries including Spain and the U.K. person reduced the magnitude of COVID-19 quarantines by letting radical instrumentality to enactment sooner aft investigating affirmative oregon being exposed to the virus.

Delta CEO Ed Bastian was among those who person called connected the Biden medication to instrumentality akin steps oregon hazard further disruptions successful aerial travel. On Thursday, the U.S. shortened COVID-19 isolation rules for wellness attraction workers only.

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McHugh reported from Frankfurt, Germany.