More than 2,700 flights canceled since Christmas Eve

Hundreds of flights were already canceled on Sunday.

December 26, 2021, 4:25 PM

The end of the holiday weekend continued to be anything but merry for thousands of air travelers across the country.

There have been more than 2,000 flight cancellations since Christmas Eve as the recent COVID-19 surge has resulted in crew shortages and disrupted several airlines.

This comes on the day after Christmas, which is forecasted to be the third busiest air travel day for return flights.

PHOTO: Passengers line up at John F. Kennedy International Airport during the spread of the Omicron coronavirus variant in New York, Dec. 26, 2021.
Passengers line up at John F. Kennedy International Airport during the spread of the Omicron coronavirus variant in New York, Dec. 26, 2021.
Jeenah Moon/Reuters

As of 4:30 p. m. Sunday, 1,016 flights were canceled, according to FlightAware.

On Christmas Day, 997 flights were canceled and another 689 flights were canceled on Christmas Eve, FlightAware data showed.

PHOTO: A screen showing cancelled flights is seen at John F. Kennedy International Airport during the spread of the Omicron coronavirus variant in New York, Dec. 26, 2021.
A screen showing cancelled flights is seen at John F. Kennedy International Airport during the spread of the Omicron coronavirus variant in New York, Dec. 26, 2021.
Jeenah Moon/Reuters

There are already cancellations for the start of the week. FlightAware has noted 114 cancellations for Monday, with United Airlines reporting 49 cancellations.

Delta and JetBlue have called on the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to shorten the quarantine period for vaccinated individuals to five days, to ease the crew shortage.

Passengers are urged to check with their airlines and airports for up-to-date information on their flights.

Despite the disruptions, the U.S. Transportation Security Administration said it screened 1,533,398 people at airport checkpoints nationwide on Christmas. This is the lowest number of travelers we've seen since Dec. 14.

The agency said between Dec. 20 and Dec. 25 it screened over 11,589,000 passengers. It expects 30 million people to take to the skies between Dec. 20 and New Year's Day.

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