Airline misery will continue into New Years, flight cancellations in the THOUSANDS

By Dana Malcolm

Staff Writer

#TurksandCaicos, December 31, 2021 – Thousands of flights were cancelled worldwide over the Christmas weekend and the trend looks set to continue. Airlines have cited staff shortages because of Omicron as well as rough weather to account for the cancellations.

Flight Aware, a flight tracking website has recorded 1,219 cancellations in the US on Thursday alone and over 8,000 cancellations on its ‘Misery Map’ since Christmas.

Flights are set to be cancelled on Friday and Saturday as well stranding passengers who traveled for the holidays. Alaska Airlines spoke to USA TODAY saying, “We’re starting to see COVID call-outs creeping up again…When you layer that with out-of-place crew due to the weather issues, we’re forced to cancel flights during an already busy holiday week.”

The trend has continued worldwide as Omicron ploughs its way around the globe.

The Turks and Caicos Islands have remained relatively unaffected with over 15,000 arrivals to the country in the period of December 20 -27.

The Turks and Caicos Hotel and Tourism Association also said bookings are nearly up to pre-pandemic levels.