Airlines canceled more than 1,000 flights Monday as they struggled to recover from pockets of wintry weather and an omicron variant-driven surge in caseloads among crews that caused staffing shortages.
The misery was shared broadly across the industry, but two smaller airlines – Alaska Airlines and SkyWest Airlines – were hit the hardest, according to aviation data provider FlightAware. The two carriers had canceled about 400 flights as of Monday morning.
Airlines began preemptively canceling flights shortly before Dec 25 as staff members called out sick after testing positive, mirroring a national surge in coronavirus cases. Carriers might have a chance to regain some footing as travel eases between Dec 25 and New Year’s, but the latest figures suggest more cancellations are likely in the days ahead.
“The system is under duress,” said Dennis Tajer, a spokesman for the Allied Pilots Association, which represents crews at American Airlines.
While the industry is experienced in resetting after bad weather, Tajer said, positive virus tests could sideline airline employees for several days.
“The weather’s going to hit, these events are going to hit,” he said. “It’s a question of how you recover from it that is a sign that you’ve got your operation together.”
Delta Air Lines said it expected to cancel more than 200 of its scheduled 4,166 flights on Monday. It canceled 374 a day earlier.
“Canceling a flight is always Delta’s last resort,” said John Laughter, the carrier’s chief of operations. “The result is not only difficult for customers, but for our people who want nothing more than to take care of them – especially over the holidays. We sincerely apologize to everyone impacted.”
SkyWest, a regional carrier that works with major airlines on shorter routes, said weather at some of its hubs and virus cases were to blame for its cancellations.
Major airlines asked the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last week to shorten the time crew members who test positive must spend in isolation, a move that airline unions oppose. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious-disease expert and chief medical adviser to President Joe Biden, suggested Monday that a vaccine mandate for air travel could help control the virus.
But while the spike in coronavirus cases has left some airlines struggling to get planes into the air, Southwest Airlines and Alaska said the more familiar problem of winter weather was affecting their operations.
Alaska said a snowstorm in the Seattle area, where it is headquartered, led to almost 250 cancellations on Sunday and more on Monday.
“We apologize for the inconvenience our guests are experiencing due to flight delays and cancellations,” Alaska said in a statement. “We realize it’s incredibly frustrating when travel doesn’t go as planned.”
Bob Mann, an airline industry consultant, said the number of cancellations was higher than usual but not in “meltdown” territory of the kind that some carriers experienced this year, when rising demand for travel collided with low staffing levels.
“If it’s your flight, it’s a disaster,” Mann said, adding that the industry is holding up, considering the challenges.
Problems should begin to ease Jan. 1, with the start of a new staff schedule month, but Mann said the virus still presents an unknown heading into the new year. It’s hard to say how much, he said, because airlines haven’t disclosed how many employees are sidelined because of positive tests.
There are also indications that airlines have learned from previous disruptions. Canceling flights proactively has given passengers time to adjust their plans and helped avoid the kind of chaotic scenes that were seen at airports this summer and fall.
United Airlines said Monday that it was canceling 115 flights on Monday because of staffing issues related to the virus. Spokeswoman Maddie King said half of its passengers who had to reschedule arrived either early or within four hours of their original landing time.
(c) 2021, The Washington Post · Ian Duncan
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