Despite the fact that the world is in the midst of the winter holidays celebrations, a total of 12,528 delays and 2,959 cancellations have been reported on Monday. Airlines and airports in the United States have accounted for nearly a half of all the delays and cancellations, Flightradar24 data showed.
Over the Christmas weekend, the air travelers witnessed a similar number of flight disruptions with 2,513 flights canceled on Sunday and 2,850 on Saturday.
On Sunday, representatives of several airlines, including United, JetBlue and Delta, said flights were being canceled over concerns of Omicron infections among staff.
The latest seven-day average of cases has increased to nearly 176,000 cases per day amid the growing prevalence of the Omicron variant, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data.