More than 5,900 flights have been cancelled on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and the day after as Covid-19 continued to wreak havoc on the airlines services globally, according to media reports citing the international flight data.

 

More than 1,500 flights across the globe were scrapped on Sunday, bringing more misery for travellers planning to fly over the festive period, reported BBC.

 

Chinese Eastern accounted for the largest share of cancelled flights followed by Delta, Air China and the United Airlines, who have been grappling with staffing problems after many workers called in sick, said media reports.

 

Companies have blamed staff shortages on the fast-spreading Omicron variant. They say flight cancellations are the result of airline crews testing positive, or being forced to self-isolate.

 

Despite early findings that Omicron is milder than other variants, scientists are concerned by the sheer number of infections being recorded.

 

On Christmas day alone, more than 2,600 flights were cancelled as Covid-19 continued to wreak havoc on the airlines services globally, stated media reports citing the international flight data.

 

Another 800 flights stand cancelled as on today (December 26) of which more than 450 are from the US, according to FlightAware. The worst-hit US companies are Delta, United and JetBlue.

 

United warned earlier that a spike in Omicron cases had "had a direct impact on our flight crews and the people who run our operation", adding that it was contacting impacted passengers in advance of them coming to the airport.

 

However, the most affected single airline appears to be China Eastern with more than 350 scrapped flights on Sunday. The airport in the northern Chinese city of Xi'an has reported nearly 100 flight cancellations - the highest number so far, said the BBC report.

 

More than 13 million people in Xi'an have been recently ordered to stay at home as authorities attempt to tackle a Covid outbreak there.

 

Heathrow airport in London has seen 56 flights cancelled on Sunday so far. Overall, global airlines have cancelled about 5,700 flights since Friday.

 

Nearly 5.4 million people have died with coronavirus worldwide, according to America's Johns Hopkins University. There have been more than 279 million confirmed cases.

 

More than 70 flights were cancelled or delayed at the Moscow city's three airports.

   

Traffic jams built up on the city's ringroad, and the authorities called on travellers to use public transport to allow the snow to be cleared from the roads more quickly.

 

With snowfall of up to 30 centimetres in some areas, trucks and tractors spent hours clearing the city's roads.