Staffing shortages force more flight cancellations at O'Hare, Midway
COVID-19 infections created more staffing shortages for a number of U.S. airlines, forcing them to cancel more than 140 flights at both Chicago airports Monday.
The Chicago Department of Aviation reported on its website 106 arrivals and departures had been scrubbed at O'Hare International Airport over the past 24 hours, while 37 flights at Midway were canceled as well.
"We have 115 (cancellations) today due to omicron staffing issues out of more than 4,000 scheduled flights," said United Airlines spokeswoman Maddie King said Monday. "The nationwide spike in omicron cases has had a direct impact on our flight crews and the people who run our operation."
King said the airline was trying to alert passengers of canceled flights before they came to the airport.
Officials at Delta and American issued similar statements about air travel throughout the country as thousands of U.S. flights were grounded during one of the year's busiest travel periods because of crews out sick, and now storm fronts appear to be creating more havoc.
Flight delays and cancellations tied to staffing shortages have been a constant this year. Airlines encouraged workers to quit in 2020 when air travel collapsed and have struggled to make up ground this year when air travel rebounded faster than expected.
With the arrival of the omicron variant, that staffing shortage has led to thousands of canceled flights over the four days. According to FlightAware, which tracks flight cancellations, airlines have canceled more than 4,000 flights to, from or inside the U.S. since Friday, with more than 1,000 U.S. cancellations Monday.
Delta, United, JetBlue and American have all said that COVID-19 was causing staffing problems, and European and Australian airlines also canceled holiday-season flights because staff were infected, but weather and other factors played a role as well.
"Canceling a flight is always Delta's last resort," said John Laughter, Delta executive vice president and chief of operation. "I'm proud of Delta people working around the clock to save as many flights as possible while proactively rebooking impacted customers, all due to a perfect storm that includes relentless weather systems coupled with the omicron variant surge."
Winter weather in the Pacific Northwest led to nearly 250 flight cancellations to or from Seattle on Sunday, said Alaska Airlines, and the airline expected more than 100 flight cancellations Monday. But it said that crews' calling in sick because of COVID-19 was no longer a factor.
SkyWest, a regional airline based in Utah, said it had more cancellations than normal during the weekend and on Monday after bad weather affected several of its hubs and many crew members were out with COVID-19.
Airlines have called on the Biden administration to shorten the guidelines for the isolation period for vaccinated workers who get COVID-19, to ease staffing shortages. The union for flight attendants has pushed back, saying the isolation period should remain 10 days.
Air travel dropped steeply in 2020 and has recovered throughout 2021. Transportation Security Administration data show passengers screened at TSA checkpoints during the holiday season up significantly from last year - on some days double the number of fliers or even more - but generally still short of 2019 levels.
The U.S. government requires vaccinations of foreigners coming to the U.S. as well as a negative COVID test of both U.S. citizens and foreigners flying into the country. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top U.S. infectious disease expert, said on Monday that the U.S. should also "seriously" consider a vaccination mandate for domestic travel as another way to push people to get vaccinated.
The Biden administration has at times considered a domestic vaccination requirement or one requiring either vaccination or proof of negative test. Such a requirement could face legal challenges.
• The Associated Press contributed to this report.