Travelers awoke to more frustrating news Wednesday with more than 1,400 flight cancellations, a sign that staffing shortages and weather-related issues continue to stymie airlines' efforts to get customers to their destinations.
According to flight tracking website FlightAware, more than 3,952 flights within, to and from the United States had been canceled as of about 4:30 p.m.
There is no indication when flight operations may stabilize. Monday, more than 3,000 U.S. flights were canceled. By Tuesday, the number had dropped to just over 1,500.
Since Dec. 24, the travel plans of thousands of people have been disrupted by a combination of bad weather and staffing shortages. Those shortages have been attributed to a rise in coronavirus infections among airlines employees -- a trend that mirrors what is happening in other business sectors. The omicron variant, which surfaced around Thanksgiving, has led to a rise in infections in the United States and around the world.
About 20,000 U.S. flights have been canceled since Christmas Eve.
JetBlue trimmed more than 1,200 flights from its schedule this month in hopes of better aligning available staffing with flight offerings. The carrier is based in New York, which has been a hot spot for coronavirus infections fueled by the more virulent omicron variant.
Meanwhile, Alaska Airlines -- which was forced to cancel or delay many of its flights after a Dec. 26 storm dumped 3.4 inches of snow on Seattle -- has encouraged passengers to reconsider nonessential travel until after New Year's because of limited capacity to rebook passengers stranded by the storm.
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Over the past two weeks, virtually all U.S. airlines have canceled or delayed flights, leaving travelers with few options for rebooking. Some carriers, including Southwest Airlines, operated relatively normal schedules leading to the Christmas holidays, only to find themselves hit hard as the new year approached. Southwest, which had canceled 455 flights, or 15% of those scheduled, as of Wednesday morning, according to FlightAware, is still trying to recover from storms that hit hubs in Chicago and Baltimore over the weekend and Monday.
Weather is often a factor during the days around Christmas and New Year's, but operations have been complicated by higher-than-expected numbers of employees taking sick leave due to the coronavirus.
Airlines are hoping that updated guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will help ease staffing shortages. The CDC now says people who have been infected, but are without symptoms, can return to work after five days rather than 10 days, even without testing. However, the agency says those who opt to test, and are positive, should continue to isolate for an additional five days. It also recommended that those who return after five days wear a mask.
The updated guidance has drawn pushback from some health experts and unions that represent airline workers. Unions are concerned that airline employees may be pressured to return to work before they have recovered, further fueling the spread of the virus.
Some carriers have cautioned that as infections surge in different parts of the country, staffing may remain in flux.