Amid a surge in COVID-19 instances brought on by the omicron variant, many vacation vacationers could discover their trip plans derailed this week as 1000’s of flights had been grounded. Greater than 2,600 flights had been canceled on Monday—of which a few thousand had been U.S. flights—following greater than 3,500 cancellations globally through the vacation weekend, in line with the New York Occasions.
Although climate circumstances and upkeep performed a job within the cancellations, they had been largely linked to rising COVID-19 instances, which have considerably impacted many airline crews. JetBlue and Delta Air Strains had been among the many airways most affected, with 12% and 6% of their flights canceled, respectively, on Sunday alone.
After almost two years of the pandemic, airline journey has been slowly bouncing again this yr, particularly through the vacation season. In an effort to maintain up with the journey growth, the airline business has tried to push the CDC to scale back the quarantine interval for workers who check constructive—a suggestion that the Affiliation of Flight Attendants, the biggest flight attendant union within the nation, has argued in opposition to.
Throughout an MSNBC appearance on Monday, Anthony Fauci, the nation’s high infectious-disease knowledgeable and chief medical adviser to President Biden, additionally floated the chance of a vaccine requirement for home journey, although he declined to touch upon whether or not he had made such a suggestion to the president. “If you make vaccination a requirement, that’s one other incentive to get extra folks vaccinated,” he stated. “If you wish to do this with home flights, I feel that’s one thing that significantly must be thought-about.”
