(Paris) Nearly 2,500 flights were still canceled by airlines across the world on Monday, with the Omicron variant of COVID-19 disrupting travel during the holidays with pilots and crew members sick or in quarantine.
According to the latest report from the Flightaware site on Monday at 5 p.m. (4 p.m. GMT), these disruptions mainly concerned China, Indonesia and the United States (a quarter of the total).
Flightaware has recorded nearly 8,000 cancellations over the Christmas weekend and is already planning 800 for Tuesday, especially in China.
The site had about 80,000 commercial flights a day worldwide before the wave of cancellations that began on Friday.
Pilots, flight attendants and other staff had to be quarantined after being exposed to COVID-19, forcing companies like Lufthansa, SAS, Delta, United Airlines or Alaska Airlines to cancel flights.
Chinese airlines were responsible for the most cancellations on Monday: China Eastern cut 422 flights, or 20% of its flight plan, while Air China canceled 198, 17% of its scheduled departures .
Indonesian companies Lion Air and Batik Air canceled 23% and 28% of their flight plans, respectively.
Among the American companies, SkyWest, Alaska Airlines, United, American Airlines and Delta have cut dozens of flights (up to 18% of flights for Alaska Airlines).
Europe seems relatively spared, even though British Airways canceled 46 flights on Monday (9% of the total). Air France, in particular, has not been affected by the phenomenon, according to a spokesperson.
Weather conditions, border closures or commercial imperatives may also explain cancellations.