Flight cancellations mount at Logan Airport

After hundreds of flights were disrupted over the holiday weekend, passengers are still facing flight cancellations and delays at Boston’s Logan International Airport. Airlines around the globe scrapped flights due to sudden staffing shortages with employees calling in sick, which several companies attributed to the highly contagious omicron variant of COVID-19.

As of 6 p.m. on Monday, 41 flights at Logan Airport were canceled and another 146 were delayed, according to flight tracker FlightAware. JetBlue had the most affected flights, with 18 canceled and 71 delayed.

Taylor Young was supposed to fly out of Logan to her home in Chicago early Monday morning after visiting family in the Boston area for the holidays. She arrived at the airport for her 5:25 a.m. Southwest Airlines flight to find it was canceled. At noon, she was still waiting to board her newly scheduled flight, which had also been delayed.

“I have obligations today that I am currently now missing,” Young told GBH News by phone from the airport. Though she said it helps that she received a voucher from the airline for her canceled flight, “it just doesn’t get me home on time.”

Young also worried about being exposed to COVID-19 during her extended airport stay and has tried to find spaces to sit that are secluded from others.

“Everyone is hungry, getting food, masks are coming down, they've been around families,” she said. “With the omicron variant, it's running rampant right now, and it’s always a little bit more stressful when you're in a situation with multiple people who you haven't been around.”

JetBlue was responsible for nearly half of Monday’s canceled flights at Logan. Spokesperson Derek Dombrowski wrote in a statement to GBH News that the airline had its highest levels of staffing since the pandemic started going into the holiday season, and is now offering crewmembers incentives to pick up additional shifts.

“Despite our best efforts, we've had to cancel a number of flights,” Dombrowski told GBH News. “The health and safety of our crewmembers and customers remains our top priority as we work through this pandemic, and we sincerely apologize for the inconvenience that these schedule changes bring during the holidays.”

More JetBlue cancellations and delays are possible as the omicron variant continues to spread, he added.

The shortages now come as a consequence of airlines cutting staff earlier in the pandemic, anticipating massive losses, said Patrick Smith, a pilot who runs the website “ Ask the Pilot.”

“It's much easier for them to gear down than to gear back up,” Smith said. “And I think to a degree, you know, airlines have been left looking foolish, like they recklessly left themselves understaffed. But it was a lot more complicated than that because there were so many moving parts and so many unknowns.”

After the holiday season, he added, airlines will have “breathing room” to catch up with their staffing.

The Massachusetts Port Authority recommends passengers check with their airline on the status of their flight before heading to the airport, as well as knowing the COVID rules for their destination, said Director of Media Relations Jennifer Mehigan. She also recommended passengers download the FlyLogan app to get information on flight status, transportation options and other travel questions.

Esteban Bustillos contributed reporting.