Vacationers wait to test in on the United Airways ticket counter at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta Worldwide Airport (ATL) in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S., on Monday, Dec. 27, 2021.
Elijah Nouvelage | Bloomberg | Getty Photographs
United Airlines is trimming its schedule to handle a surge in sick calls amongst workers, CEO Scott Kirby instructed workers.
U.S. airways canceled 1000’s of flights over the year-end holidays by early this yr as a consequence of Covid infections amongst crews and a sequence of winter storms. United first reduce some flights earlier than Christmas.
JetBlue Airways was the primary service to chop again its January schedule due to a surge in an infection charges amongst crews, which was later adopted by Alaska Airlines. American Airlines stated it will do the identical this week as Covid charges climbed amongst regional carriers.
The changes are the most recent transfer by an airline to deal with the fast unfold of the omicron variant.
Kirby stated in a memo printed on the corporate’s web site Monday that United is “lowering our near-term schedules to verify we’ve got the staffing and sources to handle clients.” A spokeswoman on Tuesday declined to say what number of flights the service is canceling.
United has about 3,000 staff who’re presently constructive for Covid, Kirby stated within the employees memo. That’s about 4% of its U.S. workforce.
“Simply for example, in at some point alone at Newark [New Jersey], practically one-third of our workforce referred to as out sick,” Kirby stated.
United on Dec. 31 offered triple pay for pilots to choose up journeys by most of January. The pilots’ union stated sick calls amongst aviators had been at a document. Southwest Airlines additionally gave pilots incentive pay for this month.
