WASHINGTON: United States Airlines summoned hundreds of flights for the third day in a row on Sunday when it jumped Covid-19 infection because the omicron variant was very transmitting the crew and forced tens of thousands of Christmas weekend travelers to change their plans.
Commercial Airlines canceled flights 656 inside, into or from the United States on Sundays, slightly dropped from almost 1,000 from Christmas and almost 700 on Christmas Eve, according to a calculation on the FlightsAware website.
Further cancellation is likely, and more than 920 flights are delayed.
Christmas holidays are usually the peak time for air travel, but the rapid spread of the Omicron variant has caused a sharp increase in Covid-19 infection, forcing airlines to cancel flights with pilots and crews that need to be quarantined.
Delta Air Lines Inc.
expects more than 300 flights to be canceled on Sundays.
“Winter weather in the US and Omicron variants continue to have an impact on the Delta weekend vacation flight schedule,” said a Delta spokesman in an email statement, added that the company worked to “change and replace the plane and crew to get customers where they must As fast and safe as possible “.
When it’s impossible, it is coordinated with affected customers on the next flight available, the spokesman said.
Globally, flighteare data shows that nearly 2,150 flights were called on Sundays and the other 5,798 was postponed, at 9.40 Est (1440 GMT).
Omicron was first detected in November and now contributed nearly three quarters of US cases and as many as 90% in several regions, such as East Selayard.
The average number of new US Coronavirus cases has increased 45% to 179,000 per day during the past week, according to the Reuters calculation.
While the latest research shows Omicron produces lighter diseases and lower hospitalization levels than the previous variants of Covid-19, health officials have maintained a careful record of prospects.