Christmas in Corona; Over Seven Thousand Flights Cancelled

Based on airline data, weather conditions and the spread of coronavirus coincided with the cancellation of over seven thousand flights during the Christmas holidays, and tens of thousands of passengers also arrived at their destinations with delays. American and Chinese airlines suffered the most damage.

According to the flight tracking website “Flightaware,” over two thousand flights were cancelled worldwide on Sunday alone, with 570 of them having the United States as origin or destination. Additionally, four thousand flights were delayed.

According to American airline companies, the reason for most flight cancellations or delays was employees of airlines being infected with coronavirus or being in quarantine. Weather warnings and unfavorable atmospheric conditions were also cited as another reason for cancelling flight schedules.

According to the website, 2400 flights were cancelled on Friday and 2800 flights were cancelled on Saturday. During the same period, 19,500 flights faced delays. Airlines Lufthansa, Delta, United Airlines, JetBlue, and Alaska experienced the most significant changes in their flight schedules. In this context, United alone was forced to cancel around 450 flights on Friday and Saturday, which was about ten percent of its planned flights. Delta airline also cancelled at least 300 flights on Saturday and 100 flights on Sunday.

Based on Flightaware data, airlines “China Eastern” and “China Air” in China suffered the most damage. China Eastern cancelled one-fifth of its planned flights on Friday and Saturday.

Source: DW