Airlines Hit by Cancellations as Omicron Causes Crew Shortages

Airlines canceled more flights in late December and early January than in previous years, as they suffered crew shortages due to the spread of the omicron variant of Covid-19 as well as the impact of bad weather.

Industry figures from aviation data specialist Cirium found that the Christmas and New Year period was particularly hard-hit, with 59,240 flights canceled globally between Dec. 24 and Jan. 3, including 20,500 in the first three days of 2022 alone.

This level of cancellation during the key holiday period was the highest in more than a decade, said Cirium. December cancellations were six times higher than in 2019 and 2.5 times higher than in 2020.

Cirium CEO Jeremy Bowen said in a statement: “Flight disruptions affect airlines and airports differently—it depends on the stand-by flexibility of equipment and resources in place to react quickly. 

“Those that plan more conservatively will minimize their operational disruptions. Cirium monitors the level of disruption by measuring completion factor of flights and their on-time performance.

Despite the high level of cancellation, December still was the busiest month for global air travel in 2021 with 2.43 million flights globally. Although, shortages of crew and ground staff due to the spread of Omicron caused more flights to be canceled in the latter part of the month and into the first few days of 2022.

Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson was the busiest airport in the world based on flight departures in 2021, while Schiphol in Amsterdam handled the most international departures across the year.

Cirium’s analysis of European carriers found that three IAG airlines – Vueling, Iberia Express and Iberia – took the top three places for on-time performance with each one recording rates of more than 90 percent.

Vueling was in top spot with an on-time percentage of 92.1 per cent, as the Spanish airline expanded internationally during 2021 by taking up slots that had previously been held by airlines such as Air France at Paris Orly.

Originally published by BTN Europe.