Two major U.S. airlines have been forced to proactively cancel some Christmas Eve flights due to the fast-spreading omicron variant of COVID-19.
Weather is partially to blame but airlines also cite rising COVID-19 cases as United, Delta and other airlines cancel hundreds of flights.As pre-pandemic level crowds hit airports for the the holidays, four major U.S. airlines have canceled more than 900 Christmas Day flights due to the fast-spreading omicron variant of COVID-19.
"Delta teams have exhausted all options and resources -- including rerouting and substitutions of aircraft and crews to cover scheduled flying -- before canceling around 90 flights for Friday," Delta said in a Friday statement to ABC News."We apologize to our customers for the delay in their holiday travel plans. Delta people are working hard to get them to where they need to be as quickly and as safely as possible on the next available flight.
"Like many businesses and organizations, we have seen an increasing number of sick calls from Omicron," JetBlue said in a statement Friday."We entered the holiday season with the highest staffing levels we've had since the pandemic began and are using all resources available to us to cover our staffing needs.
Airlines for America, the group that lobbies on behalf of all major U.S. airlines, is calling on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to shorten the quarantine time for fully vaccinated individuals, saying the omicron surge may create"significant" disruptions.