JetBlue Airways Corp. is reducing its schedule through Jan. 13 by about 1,280 flights due to a surge in crew members falling sick from the Omicron COVID-19 variant, a spokesperson for the airline told Reuters on Thursday.
Carriers have been cancelling hundreds of flights every day in the United States since Christmas Eve as they grapple with staff shortages due to COVID-19 infections and bad weather in parts of the country.
Over 1,000 flights were canceled within, into, or out of the United States as of Thursday morning, according to flight-tracking website FlightAware.com.
“We expect the number of COVID cases in the northeast – where most of our crew members are based – to continue to surge for the next week or two,” JetBlue’s spokesperson said in an emailed statement. “This means there is a high likelihood of additional cancellations until case counts start to come down.”
COVID-19 cases in the United States have been hitting new highs in the past few days, with the average number of daily confirmed cases touching a new record of 258,312 over the past seven days, a Reuters tally showed on Wednesday.
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The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention earlier this week said it was not currently considering a vaccine mandate for domestic flights. It later shortened the recommended isolation time for Americans with asymptomatic cases of COVID-19 to five days from the previous guidance of 10 days.
Delta Air Lines Inc. soon after updated its policies for workers testing positive for COVID-19 by providing them five days of paid leave to isolate, the New York Times reported on Wednesday, citing an internal company communication.
The company is also encouraging, but not requiring, those workers to take COVID-19 tests to go back to work, according to the report. Delta did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Meanwhile in Canada, air travellers have experienced an uptick in flight cancellations over the holidays, but airliners have said weather has been a bigger factor than COVID-19.
Canada’s largest airlines cancelled hundreds of flights between Dec. 22 and Dec. 26.
WestJet Airlines Ltd. said Thursday it’s cutting 15 per cent of its flights through to the end of January as it’s seen a 35 per cent increase in active cases among staff in recent days; 181 WestJet employees are currently affected by COVID-19.
WestJet said it’s seen a significant increase in flight delays and cancellations over the past 72 hours, and can no longer predictably staff its scheduled flights.
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