New Delhi: Commercial airlines across the world cancelled more than 4,500 flights over the Christmas weekend amid growing uncertainty for holiday travellers in view of a surging Covid wave induced by the Omicron variant.
According to a tally on the flight-tracking website FlightAware.com, airline carriers globally cancelled at least 2,401 flights and around 10,000 more flights were delayed on Christmas Eve, which is typically a heavy day for air travel.
The website further showed that 1,779 Christmas Day flights were called off worldwide, along with 402 other flights scheduled for Sunday.
Commercial air traffic within the United States and out of the country accounted for more than a quarter of all the cancelled flights over the weekend, according to FlightAware data.
Among the first US carriers to report several weekend cancellations were United Airlines and Delta Air Lines that scrapped nearly 280 flights on Friday citing personnel shortage amid Covid surge.
US has been witnessing a spike in Covid infections due to the highly transmissible strain Omicron first detected in November and now accounts for nearly three-quarters of the total cases.
New York has reported over 44,000 new infections on Friday. At least 10 other states have also set new single-day case records on Thursday or Friday.
Growing hospitalizations have been burdening the healthcare systems, especially in the US Midwest, with intensive care units in Indiana, Ohio and Michigan bracing for the worst even as they reel under the pressure from an earlier wave of Delta variant.
In Britain, several industries and transport networks have been struggling with staff shortages as sick workers self-isolated, while hospitals have warned of the risk of an impact on patient safety.
As per data of Office for National Statistics, one in 20 Londoners had Covid last week, a figure that could rise to one in 10 by early next week.
The Government data further showed a record tally of 122,186 new cases nationwide on Friday, marking a third day where number of cases has breached the 100,000-mark.
While recent research shows Omicron causes mild illness and a lower rate of hospitalization than previous variants, health officials have maintained a cautious note.
“There is a glimmer of Christmas hope … but it definitely isn’t yet at the point where we could downgrade that serious threat,” Jenny Harries, head of the UK Health Security Agency, told the BBC.
Meanwhile, France hit another record on Friday with daily tally exceeding 94,000 prompting the government to call a special meeting on Monday that could trigger new public health restrictions.
Despite the uncertainties around the world, millions of Americans carried on with the travel plans.
Moses Jimenez, an accountant from Long Beach, Mississippi, flew to New York with family even though the latest Covid wave dashed their hopes of catching a Broadway performance of ‘Hamilton’ or visit some museums.
“We just wanted to get out of the house and get the kids out to the city for Christmas,” Jimenez told Reuters.
In light of the surge, New York has planned to limit the number of people it allows in Times Square for its annual outdoor New Year’s Eve celebration capping the number of attendees to 15,000.
Meanwhile, the Biden administration has decided to lift the travel restrictions next week on eight southern African countries imposed last month over concerns about the new strain, the White House sources said.
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