Commercial airlines around the world cancelled more than 4300 flights over the Christmas weekend as a spike in Covid-19 cases due to the Omicron variant piled on misery for travellers.
Travellers arrive at Los Angeles International Airport in Los Angeles, California, on December 23, 2021. Photo: AFP / David McNew
Airline carriers globally scrapped at least 2366 flights on Friday, which fell on Christmas Eve and is typically a heavy day for air travel, according to a running tally on the flight-tracking website FlightAware.com. Nearly 9000 more flights were delayed.
The website showed that 1616 Christmas Day flights were called off worldwide, along with 365 more that had been scheduled for Sunday.
Commercial air traffic within the United States and into or out of the country accounted for more than a quarter of all the cancelled flights over the weekend, FlightAware data showed.
Covid-19 infections have surged in the United States in recent days due to the highly transmissible variant Omicron, which now accounts for nearly three-quarters of US cases and as many as 90 percent in some areas, such as the Eastern Seaboard.
New York reported more than 44,000 newly confirmed infections on Friday alone, shattering that state's daily record. At least 10 other states set new one-day case records on Thursday or Friday.
In Britain, many industries and transport networks were struggling with staff shortages as sick workers self-isolated, while hospitals have warned of the risk of an impact on patient safety.
One in 20 Londoners had Covid-19 last week, a figure that could rise to one in 10 by early next week, according to data released on Thursday by the Office for National Statistics
Government data showed a record tally of 122,186 new infections nationwide on Friday, marking a third day in which the number of known cases has surpassed 100,000.
France hit another Covid-19 infection record on Friday, with its daily tally exceeding 94,000 while hospitalisations from the virus reached a seven-month high, prompting the government to convene a special meeting for Monday that could trigger new public health restrictions.
In Australia, thousands of festive journeys were affected on Friday with more than 100 domestic flights from Sydney and Melbourne to other cities cancelled.
A spokesperson for Jetstar, which accounted for many of the cancellations, said the airline had rebooked "the vast majority" of affected passengers "within a few hours of their original departure time so they can get to their destination in time for Christmas".
Despite the upheaval, many Australians may be celebrating the fact they can travel between states over the holidays for the first time in two years.
Despite the grim news around the world, millions of Americans carried on with travel plans through a second pandemic-clouded holiday season and most US flights went ahead.
Moses Jimenez, an accountant from Long Beach, Mississippi, flew to New York with his wife and three children, even though the latest torrent of coronavirus cases dashed their hopes to catch a performance of Hamilton or visit some museums.
Hamilton was one of a dozen Broadway shows forced to cancel shows this week as cast and crew members tested positive for Covid-19. Museums were scratched from the family's itinerary because many now require proof of vaccination and the two younger children are ineligible for the shot.
Instead, Jimenez, 33, said his brood will make the best of roaming the city's streets and parks, while also seeing relatives and friends.
"We just wanted to get out of the house, really, get the kids out to the city for Christmas," Jimenez told Reuters on Thursday at New York's LaGuardia airport.
New York will sharply limit the number of people it allows in Times Square for its New Year's Eve celebration, in response to the surge of new coronavirus cases
For a second year in a row, the virus that causes Covid-19 is casting a shadow over the festivities, which typically draws huge crowds to the famed intersection in Midtown Manhattan.
Covid-19 infections have surged in the United States in recent days due to Omicron, which was first detected in November and now accounts for nearly three-quarters of US cases and as many as 90 percent in some areas, such as the Eastern seaboard.
The Biden administration will next week lift travel restrictions on eight southern African countries imposed last month over concerns about the Omicron variant, the White House said.
-Reuters / BBC
