COVID-19: restrictions by omicron condition the world panorama of flights

The restrictions due to the omicron variant of the coronavirus continue to cause flight cancellations and rescheduling, especially in China and the United States, affecting the plans of many travelers and, consequently, the end-of-year tourist forecasts.

According to the flight website “FlightAware”, where global airport activity is recorded, the number of cancellations at 14:00 GMT amounted to 2,291 this Monday, 792 of them for flights to or from the United States.

The number of delays at the same time was 5,479, more than 1,200 of them with origin and destination in the United States, although flights and airports in other countries, such as China, are also being affected.

In that country the most affected lines are China Eastern and Air China. And among the airports with the most cancellations are Beijing, Shenzhen and Shanghai. There is also the city of Xian, the epicenter of the latest outbreak of the coronavirus in China.

The appearance of the new omicron variant of the coronavirus has resulted in an increase in containment measures and security protocols, including in some cases border closures or tightening of entry requirements, which has had a strong impact on air transport.

In the case of China, neither the country’s transport authorities nor the official media have released any information about changes in protocols or cancellation of flights for now, except for operations at the airport of the central Xian, whose 13 million inhabitants They have been strictly confined since Thursday for a regrowth.

For its part, the South Korean airline Korean Air reported on Monday that the Hong Kong airport had prohibited the landing of its aircraft until next January 8, having detected positive cases among travelers.

In southeast asia

Dozens of flights have been canceled this Monday at airports in Southeast Asia, mainly in Bangkok and Jakarta, due to the new restrictions that are being imposed as a result of the new omicron variant of the coronavirus.

At the Jakarta airport alone, there are more than 72 flights canceled, according to the Flight Aware website, while flights in Yogyakarta (Indonesia), Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur have also been grounded.

The Indonesian airline Lion Air, with 109 flights canceled in several countries, is one of the airlines most affected by the stoppage in Asia, which has grounded thousands of planes in recent days.

This Monday’s cancellations are a continuation of those produced this Christmas weekend, with more than 2,400 flights to or from the United States, according to the Fligh Aware website.

According to United, the increase in omicron infections in the United States is having a “direct impact” on flight crews and other company personnel, who have to stay home to recover from the disease.

For its part, Delta has attributed the cancellations to omicron, but also to weather conditions with snow storms that threaten the western United States, from Washington state to southern California.

Normality in the UK

In the United Kingdom, London’s Heathrow airport, the main one in the country, has registered some cancellations of connections with the United States in recent days, although it assured that it continues to operate normally.

Gatwick, the second airport in the British capital, is also operating without incident, without suspensions related to the expansion of the omicron variant of the coronavirus.

Both British Airways and easyJet indicated that they have not registered last minute cancellations or have had problems with their staff related to the new wave of infections.

Both companies have rescheduled several flights this week due to new restrictions and regulations in some European countries.

Eurocontrol

The general director of Eurocontrol, Eamonn Brennan, said this Monday that “as we approach the end of the year, we can see how the pandemic has affected the States during 2021.”

Brennan noted that air traffic in the UK has been 62% lower than in 2019, in Spain 44% and in Greece 27%.

At the end of last week, according to data from the International Council of Airports in Europe (ACI Europe), in the three weeks after the identification of the omicron variant in South Africa, passenger traffic at European airports fell by 20% .

Cruises

The problems in global displacement have also affected cruise ships. Carnival Freedom returned to Miami this Sunday after an undetermined group of passengers tested positive for COVID-19, so it was unable to dock in the Caribbean islands of Boanire and Aruba.

Last Thursday, Royal Caribbean noted that a total of 55 passengers and crew members of the Odyssey of the Seas, which sailed the previous Saturday from a port in Fort Lauderdale, tested positive for the disease during an eight-day cruise.

The announcement came less than a week after this company reported that 48 people from the Symphony of the Seas ship, designated as the world’s largest cruise ship, tested positive for COVID-19 upon their return to the Port of Miami after a week-long trip to the Caribbean.