奥米克龙变种继续严重破坏假日旅行从东海岸到西海岸。

FlightAware的数据显示，周末，航空公司报告了超过3000次航班取消，其中至少有一次在美国停留，旅行麻烦似乎不会很快减轻。截至周一上午11点30分，已有近1000个航班被取消，而且这个数字还在一小时一小时地攀升。

联合航空公司、达美航空公司、捷蓝航空公司、美国航空公司和阿拉斯加航空公司将最近的新冠肺炎航班激增列为取消航班的原因之一，因为这导致机组人员短缺。为了避免更多的干扰，捷蓝航空和阿拉斯加航空甚至向健康的员工提供额外的报酬，这些员工可以接受额外的轮班。

美国西部的冬季天气没有起到任何作用——西雅图、洛杉矶和丹佛的机场遭到猛烈撞击。仅在周日，这三个机场就取消了600多次航班。

盟军飞行员协会发言人丹尼斯·塔杰上尉说:“COVID带来了这种破坏。“这向你展示了目前航空业的缓冲有多紧张，他们正试图用少数人驾驶尽可能多的航班。所以这有点，你不能为这样的事情做计划，但你当然应该有一点更好的缓冲，尤其是在这个重要的旅行时期，人们试图去他们的家人那里。”

幸运的是，大多数航班取消了在传统的慢速旅行日着陆-平安夜和圣诞节-但根据运输安全管理局的数据，在假期旅行高峰结束前，估计仍有1650万名乘客。

岩村由纪/法新社通过盖蒂图像

达美航空公司的客机坐在约翰·肯尼迪国际机场的停机坪上

航空专家亨利·哈特夫特告诉美国广播公司新闻，“奥米克隆将航空公司置于非常艰难的境地。“2020年，航空公司仍在遭受重大财务损失，它们不想失去任何创造收入和利润的机会。此外，没有一家航空公司希望随时取消预订满的航班，尤其是在圣诞节。鉴于omicron对人们的打击具有随机性，航空公司也不可能知道谁会生病。”

他说目前旅行混乱还没有结束的迹象。

“不可能预测与omicron相关的取消的结束日期，”Harteveldt说。“与航空公司遭受天气造成的中断不同，这种病毒是随机的。评估其对航空公司和其他行业影响的最佳方法是观察更广泛的趋势。”

代表美国所有主要航空公司游说的美国航空公司(Airlines for America)一直呼吁美国疾病控制和预防中心(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)缩短完全接种疫苗的个人的隔离时间，以尽量减少奥米克龙激增带来的干扰。

A4A首席执行官尼克·卡利奥(Nick Calio)周四在给疾控中心主任罗谢尔·瓦伦斯基(Rochelle Walensky)的一封信中表示:“奥米克龙的激增可能会加剧人员短缺，并对我们的劳动力和运营造成重大干扰。

卡利奥建议，对于突破性感染，从症状出现起，隔离期缩短至5天。

“反过来，这些人将能够以适当的测试方案结束隔离，”卡利欧写道。

这封信是在达美航空公司和捷蓝航空公司都是A4A成员之后发出的，这两家公司也要求缩短完全接种疫苗的人的隔离期。

Holiday travel nightmare continues with COVID-related flight cancellations

The omicron variant continues towreak havoc on holiday travelfrom coast to coast.

Over the weekend, airlines reported more than 3,000 flight cancellations with at least one stop in the U.S, according to FlightAware, and the travel troubles don't seem to be letting up anytime soon. As of 11:30 a.m. Monday morning, nearly 1,000 flights had already been canceled, and the number was steadily creeping up by the hour.

United, Delta, JetBlue, American and Alaska cited the recent COVID-19 surge as one of the reasons for the cancellations because it has left them with crew shortages. In an effort to avoid more disruptions, JetBlue and Alaska have even resorted to offering extra pay to healthy employees who can pick up additional shifts.

Winter weather in the western part of the country didn't help -- slamming airports in Seattle, Los Angeles and Denver. Those three airports accounted for more than 600 flight cancellations on Sunday alone.

"COVID delivered this disruption," Spokesperson for the Allied Pilots Association Capt. Dennis Tajer said. "And it just shows you how tight the buffer is in the airline business right now, where they're trying to fly as many flights as possible with just a handful of folks. So this is a little bit of a, you can't plan for something like this, but you certainly should have a little bit better of a buffer, especially in this important travel period where folks are trying to get to their families."

A majority of the flight cancellations luckilylanded on traditionally slow travel days-- Christmas Eve and Christmas -- but there are still an estimated 16.5 million more fliers before the end of the holiday travel rush, according to the Transportation Security Administration.

"Omicron places airlines in a very tough position," aviation expert Henry Harteveldt told ABC News. "Still reeling from major financial losses in 2020, airlines don’t want to forfeit any opportunity to generate revenue and, possibly, profits. Plus, no airline wants to cancel fully booked flights at any time -- especially at Christmas. Given the random nature of how omicron strikes people, it’s also impossible for airlines to know who will get sick."

He says that for now there is no end in sight to the travel chaos.

"It’s impossible to predict an end date for the omicron-related cancellations," Harteveldt said. "Unlike when an airline suffers a disruption caused by weather, this virus is random. The best way to estimate its impact on airlines and other industries is to look at the broader trend."

Airlines for America, the group that lobbies on behalf of all major U.S. airlines, has been calling on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to shorten the quarantine time for fully vaccinated individuals in attempt to minimize disruptions from the omicron surge.

"The omicron surge may exacerbate personnel shortages and create significant disruptions to our workforce and operations," Nick Calio, A4A's CEO, said in a letter on Thursday to CDC Director Rochelle Walensky.

Calio proposed the isolation period to be shortened to five days from symptom onset for breakthrough infections.

"In turn, those individuals would be able to end isolation with an appropriate testing protocol," Calio wrote.

The letter comes after Delta Air Lines and JetBlue Airways, both A4A members, also asked for isolation periods for fully vaccinated individuals to be shortened.