Due To COVID-19 Variants, United, Delta, And Other Airlines Cancelled Hundreds Of Flights For Christmas Eve
Several airlines like United, Delta have announced that cancelled of hundreds of flights around the entire country for Christmas Eve and Christmas. Due to the fast-spreading of the omicron variant of the coronavirus.
United Airlines had cancelled already more than hundreds of flights for Christmas Eve due to a shortage of employees related to the new COVID-19 outbreak hitting much of the United States. Also, it canceled 27 flights for Christmas.
In a press release, United Airlines said that the increase in omicron cases across the country this week directly impacted our flight crews and the people who run our operation.
Unfortunately, the company added that they had to cancel some flights. They are notifying some customers before they go to the airport.
According to the specialized page FlightAware count, Delta Airlines canceled 90 flights for Christmas Eve and 27 for Christmas.
The company told the media that Delta teams had exhausted all options and resources. It includes route changes and replacing aircraft and crews to cover scheduled flights before canceling about 90 flights.
In recent days, cases of the omicron variant have multiplied fastly throughout the country. Some experts have even suggested suspending flights due to the new variant.
However, aviation industry leaders have urged the CDC to reduce the quarantine time for fully vaccinated people who test positive for COVID- 19. They claim that omicron could cause significant disruption.
Currently, the isolation period recommended by the CDC is ten days.
Nick Caio, executive director of Airlines for America, proposed reducing the quarantine time to five days from the beginning of symptoms for cases of postvaccine infections.
He wrote that such people could complete the isolation with an appropriate virus testing protocol.
But not everyone agreed.
The association of flight attendants and flight attendants AFA-CWA, representing some 50,000 workers from 17 airlines, wrote a letter supporting the 10-day isolation period.
AFA International President Sara Nelson signed a letter that they recognize the time a person should be isolated is not equal to all number of days. They also know that fully vaccinated people can be less infectious and less time than unvaccinated people. She added that they don’t see the justification for reducing the number of days at this point. Still, they consider their 10-day recommendation to represent a prudent middle ground.
