More than 4500 international flights were cancelled by airline companies over Christmas. The cancellations were due to shortages of staff because of rapid spreading of the Covid-19 Omicron virus. This has caused chaos at airports.
Flight tracking company FlightAware reports that 2,380 flights were cancelled and 11163 others delayed worldwide on Christmas Eve. As of afternoon, the figures for Christmas Day were 2,388 cancellations and 2,579 delays. A further 747 flights were cancelled for Sunday.
More than 25% of cancellations were made at US airports, with Delta and United Airlines being the most affected. On Friday there were 688 cancelled flights across America, with another 980 calling off over peak travel weekends.
China Eastern was forced to cancel over 1,200 trips this weekend, and five other airlines were responsible for most of the cancellations. Meanwhile, Air China, United, Delta, Jet Blue, and Lion Air have reported large numbers of pulled flights, according to FlightAware’s real-time tracker.
“The nationwide spike in Omicron cases this week has had a direct impact on our flight crews and the people who run our operation,”United stated in a Friday statement that the company was resolving to cancel its participation. “notifying impacted customers”Working to book them.
Delta apologized for its mistakes to customers and acknowledged that they had “exhausted all options and resources – including rerouting and substitutions of aircraft and crews to cover scheduled flying.”According to the airline, the cancellations were due to poor weather conditions and the Omicron variant.
Lufthansa in Germany told AP that 12 of its transatlantic flights would be cancelled due to a scheduling conflict. “massive rise”Pilots call in sick despite having arranged for their a “large buffer”Additional staff will be needed for this period.
Last-minute travel problems added frustration to passengers who were trying to enjoy the holidays with their loved ones after the pandemic that decimated Christmas 2020 caused by influenza in the United States. Many passengers were frustrated by delays in service and demanded reimbursements.
@DeltaA horrible customer service! Flight was canceled yesterday and I’ve been trying to get a refund since yesterday! I spent hours sending emails from one person to another only to receive an email credit! I demand my money and my skymiles that I used for upgrading my flight.
— Sonny Wigginton (@SonnyW08) December 25, 2021
The American Automobile Association released figures earlier in the month. They expect a 184% rise in airline traffic between December 23rd and January 2, 2020. Between December 20th and January 3, the US Transportation Security Administration anticipated that nearly 30,000,000 people would be screened.
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