More than 2,000 flights were canceled worldwide during Christmas

Airlines have had to cancel more than 2,000 flights worldwide, with nearly a quarter of them in the United States, especially the Omicron variant COVID-19, which disrupts holiday travel.

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According to the Flightaware website, at least 2,116 flights were canceled on Friday at 3:40 pm GMT, of which 499 were international or domestic trips to the United States. As of Thursday, 2,231 flights had been canceled, according to the same source.

Many of the companies questioned by the AFP represent a new wave of the pandemic, particularly affecting staff, one of the main reasons for these cancellations.

According to Flightaware, United Airlines had to cancel more than 170 flights or 9% of scheduled flights on Friday.

“The high level of omicron cases across the country this week has had a direct impact on our staff and the people who run our operations,” the company said, adding that it is working to find solutions to bring them out. Affected passengers.

Delta Airlines also canceled 145 flights, citing Omicron and occasional adverse weather conditions, according to Flightware.

Prior to the cancellations, the airline argued that “delta crews had completed all options and resources”.

More than a dozen Alaska Airlines planes, which employees said were “susceptible to the virus” and had to be self-contained in detention, were also canceled.

These cancellations have hampered the desire to resume travel for the holidays this year due to the 2020 Christmas epidemic.

The American Automobile Association estimates that between December 23 and January 2, more than 109 million Americans will leave their neighborhood by plane, train, or car – an increase of 34% over the previous year.

For example, the airline American Airlines planned 5,300 flights on Thursday over the past two days. “It will represent 86% of our flight program for the same period of 2019,” COVID-19 said during the last holiday season, before disrupting most flights.

But most of these trips were pre-planned to spread the highly contagious Omicron variant, which spreads at full speed and leaves many people self-isolated even without symptoms.