Airlines Cancel 1,900 Sunday Flights Amid Snowstorm, Staffing Shortages

Since Christmas Eve, travel cancellations and delays have plagued US airports. On Sunday, the last day of the year-end holiday travel season, it’s turning out to be another hellish day for airline passengers. 

Flight tracking firm FlightAware.com reports (as of 0800 ET) more than 1,900 flights within, into, or out of the US were canceled, with nearly 800 delays. That follows Saturday’s 2,700 cancellations. 

Chicago O’Hare International, Denver International, Newark Liberty International had the most cancellations. SkyWest, Southwest, and Jetblue were among the most affected airlines. 

This weekend’s travel mess continues for the same reason as Christmas Eve: flight crew shortages persist as many called out sick due to COVID. There’s also another component to the disruption, that is, wintry weather across the US. Here is a map of today’s snowfall probability. 

Since Christmas Eve, about 12,000 flights have been canceled, making this holiday travel season an absolute mess for airline passengers.