United and Delta Airlines have canceled more than 200 Christmas Eve flights.
In a statement Thursday, when the cancellations first began, United Airlines blamed the cancellations on staffing shortages due to COVID-19.
The nationwide spike in Omicron cases this week has had a direct impact on our flight crews and the people who run our operation. As a result, we’ve unfortunately had to cancel some flights and are notifying impacted customers in advance of them coming to the airport. We’re sorry for the disruption and are working hard to rebook as many people as possible and get them on their way for the holidays.
Delta Airlines issued a similar statement to ABC News, saying the company has "exhausted all options and resources."
JUST IN: Delta Air Lines has cancelled 82 flights for Friday citing Omicron and weather issues. pic.twitter.com/6Q0BxIenrK — Sam Sweeney (@SweeneyABC) December 24, 2021
As of 7 a.m. Friday, 32 flights were canceled out of the Denver International Airport on Christmas Eve, according to FlightAware.
Of those, 23 are United, four are Delta and two are Frontier. Nine United flights are currently delayed from DIA.
Across the country, 573 flights are delayed in (or coming into or leaving from) the United States, and 458 flights have been canceled. Of the cancellations, 170 are United and 134 are Delta.
This is a developing story. Stay with Denver7 for updates.
donsanedrin on December 24th, 2021 at 04:04 UTC »
Hope the airline workers bring some football helmets and shoulder pads.
And, please, if you going to record the fights at the airport, record in landscape mode.
hellojuly on December 24th, 2021 at 03:02 UTC »
The article says 200 flights only two hours after this was posted. That’s going to increase.
Monsur_Ausuhnom on December 24th, 2021 at 02:24 UTC »
It makes one wonder what's going into happen when all flights are canceled and they can't go back after the holidays.