It’s another tough day for air travel, with more than 1,200 US cancellations
Airlines have been preparing for the holiday season for months, reviewing plans and readying reserves of workers. But that wasn’t enough to mitigate the effects of the fast-spreading Omicron coronavirus and of heavy snow and strong winds in the West. The impact continued to be felt on Thursday, with more than 1,200 cancellations of flights to, from or within the United States by afternoon, according to the air travel data site FlightAware. The site also showed more than 640 cancellations for Friday. The continued disruption comes as the country is averaging more than 260,000 new coronavirus cases a day, greater than the peak levels from last winter. Infection rates are especially high in parts of the Northeast and Midwest. Caseloads have continued to increase rapidly as the Omicron variant spreads, though deaths and hospitalizations have remained relatively steady.The surge has disrupted far more than air travel. New York City has slowed to a crawl as the virus thins the ranks of subway workers and emergency personnel. Cincinnati declared a state of emergency on Wednesday to help the city deal with labor shortages within the city’s Fire Department amid a spike in coronavirus cases that coincided with scheduled holiday vacations. Many cities have canceled or limited New Year’s celebrations. More broadly, the pandemic has caused months of havoc in supply chains. The air carriers hit hard on Thursday included JetBlue, with 17% of its total flights canceled. JetBlue said Wednesday that it was reducing its schedule through Jan. 13. In a statement, the airline said it had “seen a surge” in sick calls because of the Omicron variant, hampering its ability to staff its flights suitably even though it started the holidays with more workers than at any point since the pandemic began. “We expect the number of Covid cases in the Northeast — where most of our crew members are based — to continue to surge for the next week or two,” the company said. “This means there is a high likelihood of additional cancellations until case counts start to come down.”<br/>
https://portal.staralliance.com/cms/news/hot-topics/2021-12-31/general/it2019s-another-tough-day-for-air-travel-with-more-than-1-200-us-cancellations
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It’s another tough day for air travel, with more than 1,200 US cancellations
Airlines have been preparing for the holiday season for months, reviewing plans and readying reserves of workers. But that wasn’t enough to mitigate the effects of the fast-spreading Omicron coronavirus and of heavy snow and strong winds in the West. The impact continued to be felt on Thursday, with more than 1,200 cancellations of flights to, from or within the United States by afternoon, according to the air travel data site FlightAware. The site also showed more than 640 cancellations for Friday. The continued disruption comes as the country is averaging more than 260,000 new coronavirus cases a day, greater than the peak levels from last winter. Infection rates are especially high in parts of the Northeast and Midwest. Caseloads have continued to increase rapidly as the Omicron variant spreads, though deaths and hospitalizations have remained relatively steady.The surge has disrupted far more than air travel. New York City has slowed to a crawl as the virus thins the ranks of subway workers and emergency personnel. Cincinnati declared a state of emergency on Wednesday to help the city deal with labor shortages within the city’s Fire Department amid a spike in coronavirus cases that coincided with scheduled holiday vacations. Many cities have canceled or limited New Year’s celebrations. More broadly, the pandemic has caused months of havoc in supply chains. The air carriers hit hard on Thursday included JetBlue, with 17% of its total flights canceled. JetBlue said Wednesday that it was reducing its schedule through Jan. 13. In a statement, the airline said it had “seen a surge” in sick calls because of the Omicron variant, hampering its ability to staff its flights suitably even though it started the holidays with more workers than at any point since the pandemic began. “We expect the number of Covid cases in the Northeast — where most of our crew members are based — to continue to surge for the next week or two,” the company said. “This means there is a high likelihood of additional cancellations until case counts start to come down.”<br/>
