Airlines continue to cancel and delay thousands of flights as their operations struggle with countless workers infected with the coronavirus during the holiday season and New Year celebrations. Airlines have canceled over 1,620 flights as of Thursday afternoon and delayed more than 1,350 flights nationwide, according to the flight tracking site "FlightAware".
At the same time, U.S. airlines canceled a total of 1,790 flights and delayed 6,097 others last Wednesday. Southwest Airlines canceled about 562 flights, equating to nearly 18% of its total schedule as of Thursday afternoon, making it the U.S. airline with the most cancellations in recent days. Meanwhile, data indicates that United Airlines canceled about 227 flights, roughly 11% of its schedule on Thursday. The airline is currently offering pilots additional flights that can yield up to three times their regular pay until the end of the month.
Airlines have stated that they are doing their best to accommodate passengers in light of widespread issues. Many flights were canceled in advance to notify passengers as early as possible. All airlines claim they are doing everything possible to hire the needed staff to avoid future issues. However, these widespread challenges have become more frequent, as airline employees report being under severe stress due to the difficult working conditions left by the new variant of the coronavirus, "Omicron," on the travel industry recently.
