CLEVELAND — A handful of flights into and out of Cleveland-Hopkins International Airport have been canceled for Tuesday as the airlines battle a pandemic-induced staffing shortage.
Last week, United Airlines said that the virus was impacting operations as the carrier canceled hundreds of flights during the Christmas travel weekend.
“The nationwide spike in omicron cases this week has had a direct impact on our flight crews and the people who run our operation,” United said in a statement. “As a result, we’ve unfortunately had to cancel some flights and are notifying impacted customers in advance of them coming to the airport. We’re sorry for the disruption and are working hard to rebook as many people as possible and get them on their way for the holidays.”
According to Flight Aware, two United Airlines flights departing from Cleveland-Hopkins and two flights arriving at the airport have been canceled for Tuesday.
The flights scheduled to depart Cleveland that were canceled for Tuesday are United Airlines Flight No. 265 to Chicago and United Airlines Flight No. 303 to Southwest Florida. Two flights scheduled to arrive in Cleveland, United Airlines Flight No. 1957 departing Chicago and United Airlines Flight No. 1549 departing Southwest Florida, have been canceled for Tuesday.
On Friday, more than a dozen United Airlines flights into and out of Cleveland were canceled as the carrier had more than 100 Christmas Eve cancellations.
Other carriers, including Delta, have reported pandemic-related cancellations.
Between United and other carriers, more than two dozen flights have been canceled at Cleveland-Hopkins, officials said.
Khalid Bahhur, commissioner of airports at Cleveland-Hopkins and Burke Lakefront, said it can take days for airlines to catchup.
“Airlines make decisions it could be a couple of hours, it could be a day in advance or it could be last minute you could be at the gate and they cancel the flight," Bahhur said. "When Atlanta or Chicago or these other airports catch a cold, typically we all catch it as well and so it reverberates throughout the whole system and it takes a couple of days for these airports to catch up."
JetBlue, which operates out of Cleveland, has had some flights canceled. On Tuesday, JetBlue No. 440 to Boston is among the dozens of flights canceled by the airline.
"Like many businesses and organizations, we have seen an increasing number of sick calls from Omicron," JetBlue said in a written statement. "We entered the holiday season with the highest staffing levels we've had since the pandemic began and are using all resources available to us to cover our staffing needs. Despite our best efforts, we've had to cancel a number of flights, and additional flight cancellations and other delays remain a possibility as we see more Omicron community spread. The health and safety of our crewmembers and customers remains our top priority as we work through this pandemic, and we sincerely apologize for the inconvenience that these schedule changes bring during the holidays."
Delta, which according to Flight Aware, has dozens of cancellations systemwide on Tuesday, has not canceled any flights in or out of Cleveland for Tuesday as of Tuesday morning. However, if connecting elsewhere, it might be a good idea to check the flight status.
“Canceling a flight is always Delta’s last resort. The result is not only difficult for customers, but for our people who want nothing more than to take care of them – especially over the holidays. We sincerely apologize to everyone impacted,” said Delta E.V.P. and Chief of Operations John Laughter. “From teams in our Operations and Customer Center reworking our schedule to our front-line team members engaging with customers on the ground, in the air and over the phone, I’m proud of Delta people working around the clock to save as many flights as possible while proactively rebooking impacted customers – all due to a perfect storm that includes relentless weather systems coupled with the omicron variant surge.”