Alaska Air cuts January flights on ‘unprecedented’ sick calls

Bloomberg

Alaska Airlines cut 10% of its remaining January flight schedule as an “unprecedented” level of employees unable to work because of the Omicron coronavirus variant undercut its ability to operate reliably.
“Right now, we need to build more reliability back into our operation as we deal with the impacts of Omicron and during a time when guests generally fly less,” the Alaska Air Group Inc. unit said in a statement. The cancellations “will give us the flexibility and capacity needed to reset while continued flexible travel policies enable guests to adjust their plans accordingly.”
Alaska cut 120 flights, or about 16% of its total, according to FlightAware.com, as more than 1,980 flights were canceled across the industry because of winter weather and employee illness. Alaska grounded nearly 15% of its flights from December 24 through Wednesday, FlightAware data showed. Another 38% were delayed.