On Thursday (December 30), local time, JetBlue said that due to the significant increase in the number of cases infected with Omicron virus among the crew, the company reduced the number of flights before January 13 by about 1280.
JetBlue spokesman said that the number of covid-19 pneumonia cases in the Northeast where most of the company's crew are located is expected to continue to surge in the next one to two weeks, which means that there is a high possibility of continuing to cancel flights before the number of new cases decreases.
Since Christmas Eve, American airlines have cancelled hundreds of flights every day. Airlines including American Airlines, United Airlines and Delta Airlines have cancelled more than 4000 flights, due to the surge of covid-19 pneumonia cases and the impact of bad weather.
With the rapid spread of Omicron strain, the number of covid-19 cases in the United States increased sharply. According to the data of Johns Hopkins University, as of December 28, the average number of new cases per day in the United States on the 7th was more than 265000, a record high, exceeding the record of about 252000 cases set on January 11, 2021.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) updated the isolation guidelines for covid-19 infected people on Monday. The agency recommended reducing the isolation time of people who tested positive for covid-19 from 10 days to 5 days, provided that they have no symptoms.
The association of flight attendants has urged CDC not to make this change. Sara Nelson, international president of the organization, said that this is a wrong move for the aviation industry because it may allow people infected with the virus to return to work or fly as passengers.
(Financial Associated Press)
