Airlines continued to cancel hundreds of flights Saturday due to staffing issues tied to COVID-19, disrupting holiday celebrations during one of the busiest travel times of the year.
FlightAware, a flight-tracking website, noted 875 flights entering, leaving or inside the U.S. canceled Saturday, up from 689 on Friday. About 200 more flights were already canceled for Sunday. FlightAware does not say why flights are canceled.
Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport reported more than two dozen canceled flights as of late Saturday morning, most of them Delta flights. Find flight status updates here.
Delta, United and JetBlue on Friday had all said the omicron variant was causing staffing problems leading to flight cancellations. United spokesperson Maddie King said staffing shortages were still causing cancellations Saturday, and it was unclear when normal operations would return.
“This was unexpected,” she said of omicron's impact on staffing.
Delta and JetBlue did not immediately respond to questions Saturday. On Friday, Delta said it canceled flights because of the possibility of bad weather and the impact the omicron after it had "exhausted all options and resources — including rerouting and substitutions of aircraft and crews to cover scheduled flying."
According to FlightAware, the three airlines canceled more than 10 percent of their Saturday scheduled flights. European and Australian airlines have also canceled holiday-season flights due to staffing problems tied to COVID.
Flight delays and cancellations tied to staffing shortages have been a regular problem for the U.S. airline industry this year. Airlines encouraged workers to quit in 2020, when air travel collapsed, and were caught short-staffed this year as travel recovered.
To ease staffing shortages, countries including Spain and the U.K. have reduced the length of COVID-19 quarantines by letting people return to work sooner after testing positive or being exposed to the virus.
Delta CEO Ed Bastian was among those who have called on the Biden administration to take similar steps or risk further disruptions in air travel. On Thursday, the U.S. shortened COVID-19 isolation rules for health care workers only.
MPR News contributed to this report.