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On Christmas Eve, United canceled at least 25 flights in and out of Denver International Airport. That made up the bulk of the 48 total cancellations at the airport until mid-afternoon Friday.
In an emailed statement, the airline told CPR News the cancellations were linked to a loss of personnel due to COVID-19.
“The nationwide spike in omicron cases this week has had a direct impact on our flight crews and the people who run our operations,†the airline said.
Lost DIA flights were only a small fraction of the thousands of cancellations worldwide due to understaffing.
After a brief lull, parts of Colorado are starting to see signs of increasing COVID-19 cases, with an increasing percentage of them coming from the omicron variant. Cases in Boulder County, for example, rose 44% between Monday and Thursday. The Pitkin County Health Department, home to Aspen, said on Friday cases there had quadrupled in the past five days, a rate never seen before during the pandemic.
The 7-day average percentage of COVID-19 tests giving positive results statewide has increased daily since December 15 and is now 9.76%, a growth of almost four points in eight days and an indicator of problems to come. The average number of cases discovered each day over the past three days in the state was back above 3,500 until Thursday, a number last reached in mid-November at the height of the wave caused by the rapid spread of the Delta variant, primarily by unvaccinated Colorado residents. . Hospitalizations, behind new cases, continue to decline, but more slowly than in recent weeks. More than 80% of people hospitalized are not vaccinated.
The change in the number of cases follows similar increases nationwide, which have now started to manifest as disruptions at businesses like airlines.
United, which has a hub in Denver, said their cancellations represented a small portion of its 4,000 daily flights during the holidays. Delta Air Lines, which has a much smaller footprint at DIA, has also canceled flights, citing the variant.
Alan Reisman, from Boulder, flew United to Kansas City for Christmas. He bought a relief ticket home on another airline in case his return flight on December 26 was banned. “My job is such that I can’t risk not showing up on Monday. So I bought another ticket for the same trip from Southwest. If this is canceled, I will rent a car! Reisman is an oral surgeon and has traveled with “a stack of tests” to make sure he is protecting his loved ones as much as possible.
Christmas Eve is not a peak day for the holidays. According to the DIA, this distinction belongs to December 23, 27 and 29. Nearly three million passengers are expected to pass through Denver Airport in the first days of January.
“We are certainly seeing more travel than last year and we are only about 5% less than in 2019,†said spokesperson Stephanie Figueroa. She reminds everyone who comes to the airport that masks are still required by the federal government.
Stina Sieg of CPR contributed to this report.
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