LAX AIRPORT DELAYS: Flights Grounded By Omicron COVID-19

LOS ANGELES, CA — Flight cancellations and delays continued to disrupt holiday travel at the nation’s airports Monday, including at Los Angeles International Airport amid harsh winter weather and a surge in COVID-19 cases caused by the omicron variant.

As of 10 p.m., the tracking site FlightAware.com listed 39 cancellations Monday for flights into or out of Los Angeles International Airport, along with 485 involving flights into or out of the United States, and 1,773 total cancellations around the world. LAX's website listed 33 cancellations for Monday.

"This evening will be another busy travel day. There are cancellations and delays around the country, including at LAX tonight, so please check your flight status with your airline for the latest and arrive with extra time," LAX tweeted Monday.

Airlines cited labor shortages related to the omicron surge for the cancellation of hundreds of flights over the weekend. The problems continued Monday, with more than 8,000 flights to, from and within the United States having been canceled since Christmas Eve, according to data from FlightAware, an online flight tracking service.

To check on flights in and out of LAX, check with the flight tracking service FlightAware or with your airport.

Delta, United, JetBlue and American have all cited coronavirus staffing problems. European and Australian airlines also canceled holiday-season flights because staff were infected, but weather and other factors played a role as well, The Associated Press reported.

Weather also played a role in the United States. Snow in the Pacific Northwest Sunday led to nearly 250 flight cancellations in and out of Seattle Sunday, according to Alaska Airlines, which expected about 100 weather-related flight cancellations Monday, the AP reported. COVID-19 wasn’t a factor in the cancellations.

United Airlines canceled 115 of nearly 4,000 flights Monday because staff and crew members called in sick with COVID-19, the airline said.

Complicating matters, Sun Country Airlines and others canceled domestic flights because of a third-party network system outage Monday.

More staffing problems are possible.

“We have seen an increasing number of sick calls from omicron,” the airline said, adding it had entered the holiday season with the highest staffing levels since the pandemic began,” Jet Blue said in a statement.

“Despite our best efforts, we’ve had to cancel a number of flights, and additional flight cancellations and other delays remain a possibility.”

Orange County's John Wayne Airport had six cancellations Monday, Long Beach Airport had one and Hollywood/Burbank Airport had none, according to Flight Aware.

On Sunday, LAX saw 138 cancellations, with 29 at John Wayne Airport, nine in Burbank and two in Long Beach, according to Flight Aware. Nationwide, there were 1,463 cancellations Sunday, and 3,248 worldwide.

There were 96 cancellations at LAX on Christmas Day and 86 on Friday.

City News Service contributed to this report.

This article originally appeared on the Los Angeles Patch