There were 2,969 flight cancellations and 11,512 flight delays worldwide on Tuesday, with 1,172 of the cancellations and 5,458 of the delays occurring within, into, or out of the United States, according to data from FlightAware.
A day earlier, a total of 12,528 delayed flights and 2,959 cancelled flights were reported, with airlines and airports in the United States accounting for nearly half of all delays and cancellations worldwide, Flightradar24 data showed.
Similarly, air travellers in the United States experienced a number of flight disruptions: 2,513 flights were cancelled on Sunday and 2,850 on Saturday due to a significant amount of staff calling in sick.
Passengers wait in line for delayed British Airways flights inside Heathrow Airport in London. (File)
© AFP 2023 / CARL DE SOUZA
US media reported that Monday was "horrible" for air travellers amid the holiday celebrations during the Christmas weekend when airlines cancelled more than 6,000 flights worldwide on Saturday.
According to the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the current seven-day moving average of daily new cases reached 122,297 - an increase of 1.5% compared with the previous period.
However, US health authorities have acknowledged that Omicron cases are mild and no deaths attributable to the variant have so far been reported.