Christmas weekend has not brought all the festive joy airlines were hoping for. While passengers are flying, carrier's have been hit by a wave of crew shortages during the busy period. Nearly 2,500 flights have been canceled today, with another 2,400 being axed on Friday. Many of these shortages are linked to the Omicron variant, which has caused hundreds of crew to self-isolate.

Crisis mode

While airlines were hoping that Christmas weekend would bring millions of passengers back to the skies, things turned out slightly different. Passengers came out in droves, but airlines were forced to nix thousands of flights at the last minute.

The issues began on Christmas eve, with US airlines canceling over 500 flights due to staffing shortages. Globally, 2,379 flights were canceled, according to FlightAware. While much of these were in China, which has imposed travel restrictions due to new COVID cases, airlines in Europe and the US were axing routes due to other troubles.

However, things have only gotten worse on Christmas day itself. Delta has canceled another 282 flights today, or 14% of the schedule, United saw 238 (12%), JetBlue 120 (12%), and American and 88 (3%). These numbers could continue rising in the coming hours as airlines try to rework their schedules.

Delta has seen over 500 canceled flights in the last 48 hours, and things don't seem to be slowing down. Photo: Vincenzo Pace | Simple Flying

Airlines have already clocked another 800 cancelations for tomorrow, including over 100 from US carriers.

All about Omicron

However, it's not only American carriers that are facing holiday woes. Lufthansa reported a dozen canceled long-haul flights on Friday, according to Time, with at least another three on Christmas day. All of this has left thousands of passengers unable to make it home in time for the holiday.

The reason behind all of the cancelations is the same: Omicron. The new, fast-spreading COVID variant has resulted in thousands of staffers calling in sick due to self-isolation rules. With cases among fully vaccinated crew members too, airlines have been unable to find adequate crews for flights.

Miami Airport Passengers Mask
Passengers have been getting notifications all day of canceled flights or delays. Photo: Getty Images

After warning of such a meltdown this week, Delta Air Lines is feeling the pressure this weekend. CEO Ed Bastian has called for the isolation period for vaccinated persons to be cut to five days from the current 10. This would allow the airline to quickly re-staff flights and prevent even more cancelations in the future.

Preparation not enough

Despite preparing for absences over Christmas, Lufthansa was unable to prevent cancelations, with one spokesperson saying,

"We planned a very large buffer for the vacation period. But this was not sufficient due to the high rate of people calling in sick.”

United echoed the same, saying,

"The nationwide spike in omicron cases this week has had a direct impact on our flight crews and the people who run our operation."

Long-haul flights have been somewhat spared from the cuts compared to intra-European hops. Photo: Vincenzo Pace | Simple Flying

US airlines have already been dealing with staffing shortages since the fall and Omicron is likely to accentuate these problems. For now, travelers will be hoping to find space on the flights still flying and make it home as soon as possible.

Has COVID impacted your Christmas travel plans? Let us know in the comments!