Over 4,000 flights were delayed or canceled across the United States over the weekend.
Several airlines, including Delta, United, and JetBlue, said the cancellations were a result of staffing problems due to the emergent COVID-19 Omicron variant.
American Airlines spokesperson Derek Walls said virus-related sick calls from employees resulted in numerous flight cancellations.
Regarding Omicron’s impact on staffing, United spokesperson Maddie King said, “This was unexpected,” adding that it was currently unclear as to when normal operations would resume.
On Sunday, FlightAware, a flight-tracking website, reported that 2% of American Airlines flights, 5% of Delta Airlines flights, 11% of JetBlue flights, and 5% of United Airlines flights were canceled by the afternoon that day.
