Due to the increase in cases of Covid-19 among pilots and crew members, American airlines were forced yesterday to cancel more than 1,300 flights (domestic or international, from or to the United States), after already hundreds of cancellations on New Years Eve (nearly 700) and Christmas (997).
In total, around the world, nearly 8,000 flights were canceled during this three-day weekend, according to the count from the Flightaware website. Chinese companies, like the Americans, are among the most affected. China Eastern, for example, cut around 540 flights, or more than a quarter of its flight plan.
On the stock market, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Jetblue, Southwest Airlines and United Airlines lost around 3% on Wall Street on Monday, while the aircraft manufacturer Boeing, listed on the Dow Jones, fell 0.7%.
More than 2,300 canceled flights worldwide
In the United States, where the vaccination rate is considered relatively low (62% of the population received two doses), the number of Covid-19 infections was around 200,000 on December 24, an increase of 65% over two weeks; hospitalizations were up 10%.
Epidemiologist Anthony Fauci, senior White House adviser on the pandemic, warns of an increase in the number of cases in the United States in the coming days and the risk of “Congestion in hospitals, especially in areas with a higher proportion of unvaccinated people. “
Flight cancellations continued on Monday and already amounted, around 2:30 p.m., to more than 2,300 worldwide, according to data from the Flightaware website, of which nearly a third concern the United States (819).