© KEYSTONE/AP/Nam Y. Huh
Air transport remained very disrupted on Saturday in the United States. Adverse weather in several regions of the country has added to the disruptions in the global skies due to the outbreak of Covid cases linked to the Omicron variant.
The United States had 2,725 canceled flights since the start of the day, more than half of the 4,618 that have been canceled globally), around 11 p.m. (5 a.m. Sunday in Switzerland), according to the FlightAware site.
In addition, 6,072 domestic flights to or from the United States were or were delayed on Saturday, out of a total of 11,136 for the day worldwide. The most affected US airline is SkyWest, which had to cancel 23% of its flight plan, according to the site, followed by SouthWest (13%).
In the United States, the airports of Chicago (north) were particularly concerned, because of difficult weather conditions, a snowstorm being expected in this region on Saturday afternoon and overnight.
And passengers should know another complicated day Sunday, the day back from the Christmas holidays: the site reports 1,497 flights canceled for the United States alone, and 2,538 worldwide.
Global air transport also remains very disrupted by the Omicron variant of the coronavirus, which is extremely contagious. Many pilots and flight crew members are absent after contracting Covid-19, or are in contact and therefore in quarantine, forcing companies, which do not have enough staff to ensure the flights, to cancel them.
Around 7,500 flights were canceled by airlines across the world over Christmas weekend.