On Sunday, more than 4,000 flights were canceled throughout the world, with more than half of them in the United States, adding to the toll of Christmas travel disruptions caused by bad weather and the Omicron variant's rise in coronavirus infections.

The flights that were canceled by 8 pm GMT on Sunday comprised nearly 2,400 coming, departing from or inside the United States, according to tracking website FlightAware.com. Over 11,200 flights were canceled throughout the world. SkyWest and SouthWest were the airlines with the highest cancellations, with 510 and 419 cancellations, respectively.

Flight cancellations greet the New Year

Per MINT, the holidays are always a busy time for air travel, but the quick spread of the highly transmissible Omicron variant has resulted in a spike in COVID-19 cases, prompting airlines to delay flights while pilots and cabin personnel quarantine.

Transportation agencies around the United States were also stopping or decreasing services owing to coronavirus-related worker shortages. Omicron has delivered high case counts and dampened New Year festivities over much of the world.

The spike in US COVID-19 cases has forced several organizations to reconsider plans to expand the number of staff working from their offices starting Monday. US officials documented at least 346,869 new coronavirus on Saturday, according to a Reuters count. The US death toll from COVID-19 climbed by at least 377 to 828,562.

According to flight-tracking website FlightAware, airlines canceled more than 2,500 US flights on Sunday, on top of the 2,749 flights canceled on New Year's Day. On Saturday, a snow storm forced airlines to cancel hundreds of flights at Chicago's two main airports. Other cancellations were reported in Atlanta, Denver, and the New York City region on Sunday.

On top of the terrible weather, numerous airlines including JetBlue Airways, United Airlines, pand Delta Air Lines, cited an increase in COVID-19 infections from the fast-spreading Omicron variant among personnel. The travel problems occur on one of the busiest days for airlines since the pandemic began, as per CNBC.

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Omicron variant causes airline staff shortage

Last year, the Transportation Security Administration checked about 580 million individuals, up 79 percent from 2020 but still off roughly 30 percent from 2019 before the pandemic. The Omicron variant is a new hurdle for carriers that are trying to stabilize after nearly two years of the pandemic.

Per CBS News, the continual cancellations are a part of an ongoing fight between airlines that are short staffed and consumers relying on air travel for the holiday season. Travel has continued to recover to pre-pandemic levels, with 1,995,747 persons inspected at security checkpoints on Tuesday alone, according to the Transportation Safety Administration. Six million passengers are anticipated to fly, according to the TSA.

Meanwhile, positive case reports of the COVID-19 Omicron variant have continued to rise across the country. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Omicron cases accounted for 58.6 percent of all infections in the United States as of December 25, with a 95 percent prediction ranging from 41.5-74 percent.

On Monday, the CDC decreased the previously recommended 10-day isolation period to 5 days for asymptomatic patients in an effort to help workforces, like airlines, reeling from a scarcity of labor. For passengers whose flights have not been canceled and are still intending on utilizing air travel, the CDC continues to urge only going if vaccinated, and then mask wearing, social distance and testing often.

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