US flight headaches continue on snowstorm, staff shortages

Bloomberg

Travel delays continued in the US early Sunday as a winter storm swept eastward and carriers dealt with staff shortages caused by the rapid spread of the Omicron variant.
Cancellations of flights into, out of and within the US were close to 1,900 early Sunday morning, with over 600 delays already posted, according to the tracking firm FlightAware.com,
That follows Saturday’s tallies of more than 2,700 US flights canceled and over 6,500 delayed.
With the US hitting record Covid infections and related staff absences, the busy holiday travel season has been snarled by at least 12,000 canceled flights since Christmas Eve, according to the Associated Press. At this point, thousands of travelers are attempting to return home after the holidays.
Chicago’s O’Hare International is the focus of Sunday’s delays, logging over 250 cancellations so far. On Saturday, about 45% of flights scheduled to leave from O’Hare and 55% from Chicago Midway were scratched, according to FlightAware.
Southwest Airlines Co. has already canceled 264 flights for Sunday and regional carrier SkyWest Inc. has scrapped 425, or 18% of its scheduled flights.
A powerful storm across large parts of the country will continue to cause travel disruptions, according to the National Weather Service. The system is now heading east, bringing wintry conditions to New York and New England.
The Transportation Security Administration, which has been grappling with unruly passengers, urged people to “be patient.” Security screened more than 1.6 million people at checkpoints around the country, it said.