Airlines canceled more than 2,000 flights worldwide, a quarter of them in the United States, due to the expansion of the Omicron variant of Covid-19.
According to the website Flightaware, This Friday there had been at least 2,116 flight cancellations, of which 499 are trips linked to the United States, whether international or domestic.
As of Thursday, cancellations had totaled 2,231, according to the same source.
Numerous companies questioned by the AFP cited the new wave of the pandemic, which particularly affects crews, as the cause of the cancellations.
According to Flightaware, United Airlines had to cancel more than 170 flights this Friday, 9% of those scheduled.
“The peak in Omicron cases across the country this week has had a direct impact on our crews and the people who run our operations,” said the company, which claimed to be working to find solutions for affected passengers.
Delta Air Lines It also canceled 145 flights, according to Flightaware, both because of Ómicron and, to a lesser degree, due to adverse weather conditions.
“Delta teams have exhausted all options and resources” before coming to these cancellations, argued the airline.
More than ten flights of Alaska Airlines, some of whose employees said they were “potentially exposed to the virus” and had to isolate themselves.
According to estimates by the American Automobile Association (AAA), more than 109 million Americans were expected to leave their immediate area by plane, train or car between December 23 and January 2, an increase of 34% over the previous year. last year.
The airline American Airlines it had planned 5,300 flights on Thursday, as many as the previous two days.
“This represents 86% of our flight program for the same period of 2019”, the last “normal” Christmas season, before Covid-19 broke out.
Most of the flights had been scheduled before omicron bud, which spreads at high speed and is more contagious than previous variants.
Reference-www.eleconomista.com.mx