Thousands of flights globally canceled due to Omicron; Schiphol Airport also affected

The Omicron variant of the coronavirus led to the cancellations of thousands of flights worldwide. Worldwide, more than 5,700 flights have been canceled around Christmas and thousands more delayed, according to the tracking website FlightAware.

At least 37 flights were also canceled at the Schiphol airport as of Sunday morning. The cancellations concern 26 departures and 11 arrivals; 13 from the airline company EasyJet, ten by KLM and a handful of KLM codeshare flights were also affected.

At least 3,000 flights worldwide were cancelled yesterday and another 1,700 FlightAware predicted for Sunday.

Pilots, flight attendants and other personnel called in sick or quarantined after exposure to the coronavirus. Airlines that were heavily affected include Lufthansa, Delta and United Airlines. United had to cancel around 10 percent of their scheduled flights during one of the peak periods.

Yet, Chinese airlines accounted for the most significant number of cancellations. China Eastern canceled around 1,000 flights, around 20 percent of their scheduled flights. Air China also grounded one-fifth of its scheduled flights on Saturday and Sunday.