DENVER, Colo. (KMGH) — United Airlines and Delta Air Lines announced Thursday that they are forced to cancel Christmas Eve flights.
In a statement, United 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,” the statement said. “As a result, we’ve unfortunately had to cancel some flights."
United said it's notifying customers in advance of them arriving at the airport. The airline added that it is working to rebook as many passengers as possible.
A spokesperson for Delta also said COVID-19 is causing staffing shortages, but added that potential weather problems are also to blame.
Delta teams have exhausted all options and resources -- including rerouting and substitutions of aircraft and crews to cover scheduled flying -- before canceling around 90 flights for Friday. We apologize to our customers for the delay in their holiday travel plans. Delta people are working hard to get them to where they need to be as quickly and as safely as possible on the next available flight.
The United Airlines cancellations at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport include:
Arrivals
Flight 1018- was supposed to arrive from Newark-8:28 a.m.
Flight 1957- was supposed to arrive from Chicago- 9:42 a.m.
Flight 2124- was supposed to arrive from Fort Meyers- 2:21p.m.
flight 442- was supposed to arrive from L.A.- 6:01 p.m.
Flight 2475- was supposed to arrive from Chicago- 8:14 p.m.
Departures
Flight 1642- was supposed to depart to Chicago- 6 a.m.
Flight 1977- was supposed to depart to L.A.- 7:05 a.m.
Flight 450- was supposed to depart to Fort Meyers- 8 a.m.
Flight 375- was supposed to depart to Denver- 10:55 a.m.
Flight 265- was supposed to depart to Chicago 11 a.m.
The Delta cancellations at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport include:
Arrivals
Flight 1710- was supposed to arrive from Atlanta 9:54 a.m.
Departures
Flight 1710- was supposed to depart for Atlanta 12 p.m.
The cancellations couldn't come at a worse time. Millions of people are expected to travel for the holidays.
This story was originally reported by Sydney Isenberg on thedenverchannel.com.
