U.S. flight cancellations exceeded 2,800 for the Christmas weekend, disrupting travel on one of the busiest periods of the year as the omicron-fueled wave of COVID-19 cases triggered aircrew shortages.
A winter storm in the Northwest U.S. added to the mess Sunday, with 20% of the flights canceled at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, according to data tracker FlightAware.com as of 6 p.m. New York time. JetBlue Airways Corp. and Alaska Air Group Inc. each dropped more than 10% of their flights Sunday; a day earlier, JetBlue, Delta Air Lines Inc. and United Airlines Holdings Inc. had all pulled back on at least 12% of their schedule. The U.S. cuts on Christmas Day alone totaled more than 900.
Airlines’ tie-ups added to evidence of economic disruptions from the omicron variant, whose fast spread is causing havoc even though initial indications suggest that it causes less-severe illness than other COVID-19 variants. Health care systems are being squeezed by a lack of staff.
“Someone should’ve sounded an alarm when they realized people can get omicron after being vaccinated,” said Henry Harteveldt, president of travel consulting firm Atmosphere Research Group. “It doesn’t seem like they planned well enough.”
The disruptions may extend into the New Year’s holiday weekend, he said. Still, U.S. air travel could face less stress if the federal government shortens the required quarantine for industry workers who test positive with the virus.
The Centers for Disease Control on Thursday reduced isolation time for vaccinated health care workers who contract the virus. Airlines for America, the trade association representing North American carriers, wrote to the CDC asking for the 10-day quarantine period for fully vaccinated individuals to be cut to “no more than five days.”
Flight cancellations are a “concern at a time when people are traveling to spend time with family and friends for the holidays,” Harteveldt said. “No airline wants to be…