Worldwide, airlines have canceled more than 2,000 flights, 454 of which are in or out of the United States.
Despite the increasing number of corona virus cases, millions of people are still flying, causing operational problems for airlines. The TSA says it checked 2.19 million people at airports across the country on Thursday, the highest number since the increase in holiday trips began a week ago.
«The nationwide increase in Omicron cases this week has had a direct impact on our flight crews and the people who operate our operations,» CNN-received United Memo said.
According to a company report, United stated that «affected customers will be notified in advance of arriving at the airport». «We apologize for the inconvenience. We have been working hard to re-book as many people as possible and take them on vacation.»
Delta said the cancellation was due to a number of issues, including the Omicron variant.
«We apologize for the delay in our customers’ holiday travel plans,» Delta said in a statement. «Delta people are working hard to get to the next available flight as quickly and safely as possible.»
Alaska Airlines said in a statement that Omigron had canceled 17 flights due to Thursday and that more could be canceled on Christmas Eve. So far, 11 flights have been canceled on Friday.
Thousands of international flights have been canceled
FlightAware reports that China has canceled 474 flights or 22% of its operations. Similarly, Air China canceled about 190 flights or 15% of its schedule.
Air India, Shenzhen Airlines, Lion Air and Wings Air have also canceled dozens of flights.
— Andy Rose, Sheriff Budget and Ramisha Maroof contributed to this report
