More than 5,600 flights were canceled by airlines around the world over Christmas weekend, due to the spread of the new variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, omicron, according to data from the FlighAware website.
This Saturday alone, as of 1.40pm (Lisbon time), there were nearly 2,500 canceled flights, of which 850 were of origin or destination in the US.
On the other hand, about 3,500 flights around the world are delayed. About 800 are scheduled to be canceled on Sunday.
As of Friday, FlighAware data revealed 2,400 cancellations and nearly 11,000 flights delayed.
Pilots, flight attendants and other professionals have been forced into quarantine after exposure to the covid-19 virus, prompting companies such as Lufthansa, Delta and United Airlines to cancel flights.
United Airlines had to cancel 439 flights between Friday and Saturday, 10 percent of scheduled flights.
“The peak of the number of infected people across the country this week had a direct impact on our crews,” United Airlines was quoted by the French news agency AFP as quoting the French news agency (AFP).
Meanwhile, Delta Air Lines canceled 170 flights on Friday and 280 on Saturday.
At least a dozen flights in Alaska were also canceled after “employees were potentially exposed to the virus.”
Lusa contacted ANA and TAP to find out how many flights were canceled in Portugal, but there was no response.
However, according to the data available on the ANA website, regarding Lisbon Airport, on Friday nine flights for arrivals and ten for departures were cancelled.
In total, 17 belonged to TAP and the rest to Transavia.
Today, there are nine canceled flights on departures from Humberto Delgado Airport, seven from TAP, 10 on arrival, and eight from TAP.
At Porto airport, five flights were canceled on Friday on arrival and two on departure, while today three more flights on arrival and two on departure were canceled today.
As far as this airport is concerned, the majority of canceled flights belong to Wizz Air, followed by TAP.
According to the data available on the ANA website, no cancellations were recorded at Faro Airport between Friday and Hook.
