US travelers stay closer to home as Omicron looms

The TSA has screened more than 2m people daily for the past four days, but it still remains down about 15% over pre-pandemic levels. TSA said it expects to screen 30m people between Monday and Jan. 3 even as US COVID-19 cases spike and Omicron spreads. Airlines have in recent weeks reported some uptick in cancellations. Still, millions of Americans are expected to hit the highways and board flights to celebrate with family and friends over the holidays. Delta said last week that Omicron had slowed international bookings as many countries imposed new travel restrictions. However, the airline's chief executive officer, Ed Bastian, said that "Omicron (is) not going to impact our holiday bookings." United Airlines is flying its busiest schedule this month since the start of the pandemic, with more than 4,000 flights per day on average during the year-end holidays. The airline said it added more than 200 daily domestic flights to meet holiday travel demand. Similarly, Southwest said Monday the airline is encouraged by holiday demand trends. American Airlines incoming CE Robert Isom said the airline's domestic business remained strong but the new travel restrictions had dampened demand in some international markets. Nationally, COVID cases rose 9% in the past week but are up 57% since the start of December, according to a Reuters tally. The spike in US COVID-19 cases is causing some worry about the future of travel. Omicron fears and new travel restrictions have prompted a rise in global hotel cancellations, according to online hotel search firm Trivago.<br/>