Chicago airports reported dozens of canceled flights once again Monday as the omicron variant caused airline staffing issues in the midst of one of the busiest holiday travel periods.
As of Monday morning, more than 80 flights were reported canceled at both Midway and O'Hare airports in the city.
As of 5:30 a.m., 54 cancellations were reported at O'Hare Airport, along with more than 86 delays in the last 24 hours. Midway International Airport reported 30 flight cancellations and 14 delays in the most recent 24-hour time period.
A total of 1,233 U.S. flights had been canceled as of 6 p.m. Sunday, and another 5,118 flights were delayed, according to the flight tracking website Flightaware.com. By early Monday, more than 700 flights were canceled.
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Delta, United and JetBlue airlines have all blamed the omicron variant for staffing shortages that forced cancellations.
Globally, airlines scrapped about 2,900 flights as of Sunday evening, slightly up from more than 2,800 from the day before, FlightAware’s data showed. The site does not say why flights are canceled.
JetBlue scrapped 10% of its flights Sunday. Delta canceled 5% and United canceled 4%, according to FlightAware. The three airlines canceled more than 10% of their scheduled flights on Saturday.
