Both United Airlines and Delta Air Lines had to cancel more than 300 flights today due to an increase in Omicron cases that affected the airlines’ staff.
So far, United has canceled 177 flights while Delta has canceled about 150, creating a severe impact on travelers in the middle of one of the busiest travel days of the year.
According to a statement, Delta explained that the cancellations were made as a last option after having exhausted all available resources, in order to comply with scheduled itineraries, such as route changes and aircraft and crew substitutions.
Regardless of the health contingency, U.S. airlines have been on alert for a few weeks now due to staffing shortages, especially following United’s announcement to suspend 14 regional routes from its Washington-Dulles hub in the spring of 2022 due to pilot shortages.
“With staff numbers already limited, it should not be surprising that the increase in COVID-19 cases has caused large-scale operational difficulties,” Aero Xplorer portal commented.
This is not the first time in recent months that U.S. airlines have suffered a surge in cancellations, back in October, Southwest had to cancel some 2,100 flights over a weekend while in November it was American Airlines with approximately 2,000. Both airlines claimed weather problems, but the lack of personnel was evident in both cases.
