As data from the website Flightaware.com showed on Saturday evening, almost 2,800 flights were canceled worldwide on Saturday, including almost 1,000 with their destination or departure in the USA. There were also more than 8,000 delays. On Friday there were already 2,400 cancellations and 11,000 delays. So far, around 1,100 flight cancellations have been recorded for Sunday. According to the airlines, the many flight cancellations in one of the main travel times of the year are due to the fact that many pilots, flight attendants and other employees are infected with the corona virus or are in quarantine. Most of the cancellations were made by Chinese airlines: China Eastern canceled 1,000 flights on Friday and Saturday, which was more than a fifth of the flight schedule. Air China also put around 20 percent of its scheduled departures on hold during this period.
The US airlines also had to cancel many flights. According to Flightaware, United Airlines alone had to cancel around 450 flights on Friday and Saturday – around ten percent of all scheduled flights. “The nationwide surge in Omikron cases this week had a direct impact on our crews and the people who keep our operations going,” the airline said.
The US airline Delta had to cancel at least 300 flights on Saturday – after around 170 failures on Friday. The airline saw no more possibility of being able to offer the flights after all – “including the diversion and the exchange of aircraft and crews,” said Delta.
Source: Nachrichten
