THOUSANDS OF FLIGHTS CANCELED DURING THE HOLIDAY
As Covid-19 cases continue to grow, more than 1,000 flights have been reported to be canceled by US Airlines, leaving holiday travelers stranded.
Nearly 700 flights were cancelled on Christmas Eve. Moreover, Christmas day dawned with yet 997 more flights getting canceled and many more delayed.
Among the thousands stranded on Sunday was twenty-five-year-old Enjoli Rodriguez. Her Delta flight from Los Angeles to Kentucky was canceled because of a lack of staff members. “I am surrounded with angry passengers, flustered airline representatives and families along with young children. We’re all just stuck here, and there’s nothing we can do about it,” said Rodriguez
By early Wednesday, more than 2,280 flights had been canceled globally for the day, with more than 740 flights within, to and from the United States called off, according to the flight tracking website FlightAware.
In addition, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggested that it was not considering implementing a COVID vaccine mandate for domestic flights.
“Right now, what we’re talking about is ways to get people vaccinated,” CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said on National Public Radio. “Certainly domestic flights has been a topic of conversation, but that is not something we’re revisiting right now.”
On Tuesday, the United States hit a record seven-day average of 262,034 cases, surpassing a 252,776-case record set Jan. 11, according to an NBC News data analysis.
The US airports most heavily affected by the cancellations were Seattle, Atlanta, Los Angeles, Dallas-Fort Worth, and JFK International. A White House official said despite the mess at some airports, “we’re in a better place than last Christmas” and noted that “only a small percentage of flights are affected.”
