Travel misery continues as 1,500 more flights cancelled due to Covid-19

BoomRadioNG | December 26, 2021

More than 1,500 flights across the globe were scrapped on Sunday, bringing more misery for travelers planning to fly over the festive period.

As many as 5,900 flights have now been cancelled on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and the day after, according to FlightAware data tracking website.

Chinese and US airlines appear to be the hardest hit. Further disruption is expected on Monday.

Companies have blamed staff shortages on the fast-spreading Omicron variant.

They say flight cancellations are the result of airline crews testing positive, or being forced to self-isolate.

More than 450 flights to or from US airports have been cancelled on Sunday, according to FlightAware.

Photo by Connor Danylenko from Pexels

The worst-hit US companies are Delta, United and JetBlue.

However, the most affected single airline appears to be China Eastern with more than 350 scrapped flights on Sunday.

The airport in the northern Chinese city of Xi’an has reported nearly 100 flight cancellations – the highest number so far.

Overall, global airlines have cancelled about 5,700 flights since Friday.

Nearly 5.4 million people have died with coronavirus worldwide, according to America’s Johns Hopkins University. There have been more than 279 million confirmed cases.

Paul Ayorinde