(Washington) Air travel remained severely disrupted in the United States on Saturday, with unfavorable weather in several parts of the country adding to the disruption in global skies due to the outbreak of COVID-19 cases linked to the Omicron variant.
The United States had 2,584 canceled flights since the start of the day – more than half of the 4,501 that have been canceled globally – shortly after 4 p.m. (9 p.m. GMT), according to the FlightAware website.
In addition, 3,271 domestic flights to or from the United States were or were delayed on Saturday, out of a total of 7,381 for the day globally.
The most affected US airline is Southwest, which had to cancel 13% of its flight plan, according to the site.
In the United States, Chicago airports were particularly affected, due to difficult weather conditions, a snowstorm being expected in this region on Saturday afternoon and overnight.
Global air transport also remains very disrupted by the Omicron variant of the coronavirus, which is extremely contagious. Many pilots and flight crew members are absent after contracting COVID-19, or are in contact and therefore in quarantine, forcing companies, which do not have enough staff to ensure the flights, to cancel them.
Around 7,500 flights were canceled by airlines across the world over Christmas weekend.