Flight cancellations continue due to airline staff shortage

Flight-tracking website, FlightAware, noted that 941 flights entering, leaving or entering the US were canceled on Saturday, up from 690 on Friday. More than 200 flights had already been canceled for Sunday. FlightAware does not explain why flights are cancelled.

Delta, United and JetBlue said on Friday that the Omicron variant was causing staffing problems, leading to flight cancellations. United spokeswoman Maddie King said staff shortages were still causing cancellations and it was unclear when normal operations would return. “It was unexpected,” she said of Omicron’s impact on staffing. Delta and JetBlue did not immediately respond to questions on Saturday.

According to FlightAware, all three airlines canceled more than 10% of their Saturday scheduled flights. American Airlines also canceled 90 flights Saturday, about 3% of its schedule, according to FlightAware. US spokesman Derek Walls said the cancellations stemmed from “COVID-related sick calls” and the airline contacted customers on Friday. European and Australian airlines have also canceled holiday season flights due to staffing problems. covid.

For travelers, this means time away from loved ones, chaos at the airport and the stress of trying to rebook flights for hours online and over the phone. Peter Bockman, a retired actor, and his daughter Malaika, a college student, were in Senegal on Saturday to celebrate with relatives they hadn’t seen in a decade. But his flight from New York to Dakar was canceled at 7:30 pm on Friday, which he came to know only when he reached the airport. They were there till 2am, trying to rebook a flight.

Blaming Delta for the lack of customer service, he said, “Nobody was organizing, trying to sort things out.” Nobody explained anything. Not even, ‘Oh, we’re so sorry, that’s all we can do to help you. ,

His new flight, for Monday evening, is halted in Paris, and they are concerned that there will be problems with him as well. And they have already missed a big family get-together that was scheduled for Saturday.

FlightAware, which did not give a reason for the cancellations, said airlines canceled nearly 6,000 flights globally as of Saturday afternoon on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, with nearly one-third of those affected by flights to or from the United States. was inside her. Many of the canceled flights were made by Chinese airlines, and Chinese airports topped FlightAware’s list of people with the most cancellations. China has strict epidemic control measures, including continued lockdowns, and the government earlier this week set one on Xi’an, a city of 13 million people.

Air China, China Eastern and Indonesian airline Lion Air with multiple canceled flights did not respond to emails on Saturday.

Flight delays and cancellations This year tied to staffing shortages has been a regular problem for the US airline industry. Airlines encouraged employees to quit in 2020, when air travel collapsed, and travel this year as fewer employees caught up.

To ease staffing shortages, countries including Spain and the UK have reduced the length of COVID-19 quarantines by allowing people to return to work as soon as possible after testing positive or being exposed to the virus.

Delta CEO Ed Bastian was among those who called on the Biden administration to take similar steps or risk further disruption to air travel. On Thursday, the US shortened COVID-19 isolation rules for health care workers only.

This story has been published without modification in text from a wire agency feed. Only the title has been changed.