Airlines have canceled more than 15,000 flights since Christmas Eve as industry chaos persisted through the weekend, with 2,700 flights canceled Sunday on top of 2,700 flights that were scrapped on New Year’s Day.
The problem arises from staffing shortages due to the surge of the omicron variant of the coronavirus and wintry weather around key airports, according to USA Today, which crunched the cancellation numbers based on the FlightAware tracker.
Early Monday, more than 1,800 flights were canceled as the East Coast braced for a snowstorm that previously impacted hubs in Denver and Chicago.
Southwest Airlines canceled more than 400 flights Monday, or 12% of its scheduled flights, and JetBlue canceled 136 flights — or 13%, according to USA Today.
Some airlines are offering incentives to keep things moving.
The United Airlines’ pilots’ union, the Air Line Pilots Association, negotiated triple pay for those who fill in on open trips through much of January, CNBC reported.
For more information, visit The Washington Times COVID-19 resource page.
