United and Delta airlines have cancelled more than 200 flights on Christmas eve, with United citing a “direct impact” on staff shortages because of the rise in Omicron cases and Delta saying it exhausted “all options and resources”.
“The nationwide spike in Omicron cases this week has had a direct impact on our flight crews and the people who run our operation,” United said in a statement on Thursday.
United has cancelled 150 flights, according to several media reports.
“We’re sorry for the disruption and are working hard to rebook as many people as possible and get them on their way for the holidays.”
United said it alerted its customers as soon as it could, according to the company’s spokesperson Joshua Freed, who added that, even though he does not believe the airline will cancel more flights, more cancellations could still be a possibility.
United was still operating nearly 3,100 flights on Friday despite the cancellations, reported Bloomberg.
“We are really managing this day by day,” he was quoted as saying by TheNew York Times. “There may be some more flight cancellations for Saturday. It’s possible.”
Delta airlines followed suit and announced 90 flight cancellations for Christmas eve on Thursday as well.
“Delta teams have exhausted all options and resources – including rerouting and substitutions of aircraft and crews to cover scheduled flying – before canceling around 90 flights for Friday,” the company said in a statement.
“We apologise to our customers for the delay in their holiday travel plans. Delta people are working hard to get them to where they need to be as quickly and as safely as possible on the next available flight.”
According to CNN, the cancelled flights represent 4 per cent of Delta’s total scheduled flights.
Flight cancellations were also seen in Australia, where nearly 117 domestic flights were suspended between Sydney and Melbourne on Friday, reported TheGuardian.
Most of the cancelled flights are with Jetstar services, which lost manpower due to Covid testing and isolation protocols, reported the outlet.
“Unfortunately like many people in Sydney and Melbourne, a large number of our frontline team members are being required to test and isolate as close contacts, given the increasing number of cases in the general community. As a result we have had to make some late adjustments to our schedule,” a Jetstar spokesperson was quoted as saying.
The airline has however managed to rebook “the vast majority” of displaced passengers “within a few hours of their original departure time so they can get to their destination in time for Christmas”, the company spokesperson told the newspaper.
According to FlightAware, a company that provides real-time flight data, up to 1,600 flights were cancelled globally on Friday.
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