Few flights canceled at RSW as airlines accuse Omicron of jamming US schedules

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Flight cancellations that plagued American travelers at the start of Christmas weekend continued on Sunday, but had little effect at the Southwest Florida International Airport.

The COVID-19 variant Omicron has been blamed for disrupting the vacation plans of tens of thousands of travelers and, according to tracking website FlyteAware, has made double-digit cancellations at a number of major airports.

Shortly after noon on Sunday, Hartsfield-Jackson International in Atlanta reported 82 canceled flights, Dallas-Fort Worth International had 56, Logan International in Boston had 43, William P. Hobby in Houston and O’Hara in Chicago both had. 40 and Miami International had 32.

The Lee County Port Authority hosted an open house to celebrate the completion of construction of Phase 1 of its new Airport Traffic Control (ATCT) tower at Southwest Florida International Airport (RSW) on Monday December 6, 2021. The tower will now be handed over to the FAA so that the equipment can be installed.

Related: Phase 1 of Its New Airport Traffic Control Tower at RSW Completed

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Meanwhile, Southwest Florida International Airport (RSW) reported nine canceled flights Sunday from Delta, JetBlue, United and Frontier. RSW had 15 flights canceled on Saturday and four flights were already canceled for Monday.

Tampa and Jacksonville both had eight cancellations on Sunday.

More than 700 flights entering, leaving or flying in the United States were canceled on Sunday, according to flight tracking site FlightAware. That figure was down from nearly 1,000 on Saturday. More than 50 flights have already been canceled for Monday.

Delta, United and JetBlue have blamed the omicron variant of the coronavirus for staff shortages that have forced cancellations.

“It was unexpected,” United spokeswoman Maddie King said of omicron’s impact on staff.

Latest COVID-19: Florida has its first cases of omicron variant

Worldwide, airlines cut about 2,200 flights Sunday morning, up from more than 2,800 the day before, according to FlightAware data. The site does not say why the flights are canceled.

JetBlue cut 10% of its flights on Sunday. Delta canceled five percent and United canceled four percent, according to FlightAware. The three airlines canceled more than 10% of their scheduled flights on Saturday.

Connect with reporter Michael Braun: MichaelBraunNP (Facebook), @MichaelBraunNP (Twitter) or [email protected]. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: RSW sees few flight cancellations while Miami has over 30 scratches

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