The number of cancellations globally as of Friday morning added up to more than 2,000, the Flight Aware website showed. It was the latest blow to the holiday season, mainly caused by the new and highly transmissible Omicron variant, which now accounts for more than 70 percent of new coronavirus cases in the United States.
Delta Air Lines said in a statement that it had canceled about 90 flights for Friday after exhausting “all options and resources,” including rerouting and substituting planes and crews to cover scheduled flights. It attributed the cancellations to “a combination of issues, including but not limited to, potential inclement weather in some areas and the impact of the Omicron variant.”
United Airlines canceled at least 150 flights scheduled to leave dozens of airports on Friday — along with 44 more that were supposed to take off on Saturday, according to Flight Aware. Other airlines, including JetBlue and Allegiant, did likewise, although American Airlines said on Friday morning that it currently had no flight cancellations.
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