JetBlue cuts about 1,280 flights through mid-January.
JetBlue Airways is reducing its schedule through Jan. 13 by about 1,280 flights due to a surge in crew members falling sick from the Omicron coronavirus variant, a spokesperson for the airline told Reuters on Thursday.
Carriers have been canceling hundreds of flights every day in the United States since Christmas Eve as they grapple with staff shortages due to COVID-19 infections and bad weather in parts of the country.
→ JetBlue and Aer Lingus expand codeshare partnership across the North Atlantic.
Over 1,000 flights were canceled within, into, or out of the United States as of Thursday morning, according to flight-tracking website FlightAware.com.
“We expect the number of COVID cases in the northeast – where most of our crew members are based – to continue to surge for the next week or two,” JetBlue’s spokesperson said in an emailed statement. “This means there is a high likelihood of additional cancellations until case counts start to come down.”
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention earlier this week said it was not currently considering a vaccine mandate for domestic flights. It later shortened the recommended isolation time for Americans with asymptomatic cases of COVID-19 to five days from the previous guidance of 10 days.
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