The Federal Aviation Administration on Friday warned that even more flights could be canceled as its air traffic control staff are hit by COVID, even as airlines themselves nix thousands of flights because of staff felled by the Omicron variant.
In a statement, the FAA said an increasing number of its employees are testing positive for the virus, CNN reports, which could force it to implement health and cleaning procedures that will reduce the number of available flights.
‘To maintain safety, traffic and volume at some facilities could be reduced, which might result in delays during busy periods,’ the administration warned.
The FAA doesn’t actually schedule flights – but its vital role in organizing air traffic across the US means that airlines would be forced to ax flights if there aren’t enough controllers available to manage the skies safely.
Americans throughout the country are already facing thousands of cancelations, with more than 11,000 flights canceled since Christmas Eve, and more than 1,000 flights already scrapped from Saturday’s and Sunday’s schedules in anticipation of ongoing staff sickness.
SEATTLE: The Sea-Tac airport was crowded to the brim early Friday morning amid a surge in holiday travel and snowy weather
NEW YORK: People waited inside LaGuardia Airport on Friday as thousands of flights were canceled or delayed
NEW YORK: A woman spent her time waiting browsing through her phone at LaGuardia Airport
JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA: A girl kept herself cozy as she waited five hours for her flight on Friday
NEW YORK: Others took the opportunity to relax as they waited for their flights on Friday
PHILADELPHIA: Katelyn Darrow got some work done on her laptop as she waited to board her flight on New Years Eve
NEW YORK: Girls sat around with their belongings as they waited for their flight at LaGuardia on Friday
As of Friday evening, there were 1,523 flights canceled within, into or out of the United States, according to Flight Aware, a website that tracks air travel. Globally, there were 3,044 flights canceled.
More than 3,000 other flights were delayed in the United States, and 8,346 were delayed throughout the world.
Of the American flights, United Airlines canceled 11 percent of its scheduled flights on Friday, Jet Blue canceled 14 percent of its flights, Delta canceled 5 percent and Southwest Airlines canceled 3 percent.
American Airlines canceled just 2 percent, and budget airline Frontier canceled 4 percent.
JetBlue is headquartered in New York City, the nation’s current Omicron capital. The Empire State saw 76,555 new cases on Friday, which may help explain the ongoing staff shortages.
Meanwhile, the Transportation Security Administration expects 10 million more people to pass through airport screening sites by the end of Monday, and had already screened more than 2 million at its checkpoints on Thursday.
The Christmas holidays are typically a peak time for air travel, but the rapid spread of the highly transmissible Omicron variant has led to a sharp increase in COVID-19 infections, forcing airlines to cancel flights as pilots and crew need to be quarantined.
As of Thursday, the US recorded 647,067 new cases were reported, and over the past week the country saw 2.49 million cases – outpacing the country’s previous record of 1.7 million new cases recorded in the one-week period from January 3 through January 9.
SALT LAKE CITY: Hundreds of travelers lined up at the Delta ticket counter at Salt Lake City International Airport on Thursday
NEW YORK: The line was even growing outside of LaGuardia Airport on Friday, with these passengers waiting to take rapid COVID tests
CHICAGO: Passengers walked through the terminal at O’Hare International Airport on Thursday ahead of the holiday
JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA: A boy made himself at home at the Jacksonville Airport with his legs up on the seats
The sudden arrival of Omicron, which was first detected in South Africa last month, has brought record-setting case counts to countries around the world. Transportation agencies across the United States are suspending or reducing service due to COVID-19 staff shortages as the Omicron variant surges nationwide.
Airline officials were required to get vaccinated under President Joe Biden’s vaccine mandate for all federal contractors, but many who have gotten the double jab are still getting infected with COVID as the Omicron variant spreads.
‘You have a high level of vaccination among airline employees, and yet, because of Omicron, I think the absenteeism is higher than you would have expected,’ Raymond James analyst Savanthi Syth told Bloomberg. She said that airlines have been caught by surprise ‘at a time where you also have been having some winter weather issues across the US.’
U.S. airline cabin crew, pilots and support staff are reluctant to work overtime during the holiday travel season despite offers of hefty financial incentives. Many workers fear contracting COVID-19 and do not welcome the prospect of dealing with unruly passengers, some airline unions have said.
In the months preceding the holidays, airlines were wooing employees to ensure solid staffing, after furloughing or laying off thousands over the last 18 months as the pandemic crippled the industry.
NEW YORK: Travelers got ready to pass through a TSA checkpoint at LaGuardia on Friday. The administration expects to screen 10 million more people by the end of Monday
NEW YORK: Women checked into their American Airlines flight on Friday, which canceled 2 percent of its flights
NEW YORK: A group of people chatted at LaGuardia International Airport on New Years Eve
Making matters worse, the National Weather Service has warned that severe conditions will usher in 2022, with moderate-to-heavy snowfall expected in the Western mountains. Totals could exceed three feet in the highest elevations of Utah and Colorado, and hazardous conditions are forecast for New Years Day from the Central Plains to the Great Lakes.
Alaska Airlines on Friday announced that it was proactively cutting the number of flights out of Seattle-Tacoma International Airport over the next few days to allow for additional time to deice the aircrafts, King 5 News reports, after it had already canceled 170 flights across its network.
Kate Hudson, an airport communications manager at the airport, said a combination of a surge in holiday travel, winter weather challenges and airline staffing issues and causing the disruptions.
‘This is a higher travel period for us in general,’ she said, noting that airport crews are working around the clock to ensure runways, taxiways and ramps are clear of snow and ice.
For anyone who does not have a confirmed seat on a flight, the Port of Seattle previously recommended not going to the airport. And on Tuesday, Hudson said if travel isn’t essential, people should consider rebooking.
Alaska Airlines is also pleading with passengers to rebook, saying in a statement: ‘We strongly urge flyers with nonessential travel scheduled before January 2, 2022 to consider changing their travel to a later date using our flexible travel policy.
‘With more snow expected and limited seats available during an already busy holiday week, we’re not able to re-accommodate most guests for at least three days.’
Hold times for customer service at Alaska were 20 hours as of Friday, and a hold message to callers urged anyone without an urgent issue to wait ‘until next week.’
JetBlue, meanwhile, has canceled 1,280 flights from its schedule over the next two weeks to ‘give our customers as much notice possible to make alternate plans and re-accommodate them on other flights.’
Airline officials had earlier thought that the number of crewmembers out sick with COVID was under control, but, CNN it is now seeing ‘a surge in the number of sick calls from Omicron.’
The issue likely will not be resolved soon, with airlines worldwide eliminating about 8.4 percent of the flights they had planned for January, according to Bloomberg, with an even steeper drop in Europe, where about 15 percent of January flights have been canceled after some countries imposed new restrictions on cross-border travel to quell the spread of the Omicron variant.
Several people took to Twitter to express their frustrations
But airports throughout the country were already filled with thousands of people trying to go home or go on a vacation for the new year on Friday, with many taking to Twitter to express their frustrations.
Danielle Yurkew tweeted that she had been on the phone with JetBlue for over two hours as she begged for someone to answer, later writing: ‘Hi again JetBlue, do not make me disappoint my grandpa. He wants to spoil me,’ and Joe Shramek tweeted to Alaska Air to confirm whether his flight was canceled, writing: ‘I’m 3,000 miles from home with children who have school on Monday.’
Charlotte de Witte, meanwhile, tweeted that Delta is ‘an absolute nightmare,’ after she waited three hours on the phone and 1,104 minutes waiting to talk to someone on their website.
Others expressed their frustration through some humor, including Molly Schaub who said she was not planning to stay up until midnight on New Years, but her canceled flight and a new long layover seemed to have other ideas, and Alyssa Mercante posted a meme from the Sorpanos that American Airlines canceling her flight to Italy is ‘anti-Italian discrimination.’