NEW YORK — Thousands of canceled and delayed flights over the holidays caused travelers to get caught up in airports across the country.
And it looks like the flight cancellation frenzy won't be over any time soon.
JetBlue is cutting around 1,280 flights from its schedule through Jan. 13 due to a surge in crew members testing positive for COVID-19, an airline spokesperson told Reuters.
Cancellations have continued to climb nationwide across all airline carriers, with most pointing to a surge in sick calls from crews.
Carriers including JetBlue, United Airlines, Delta Air Lines and American Airlines, have canceled more than 8,000 flights since Christmas Eve, CNBC reports, citing airline data firm FlightAware.
On Thursday evening, the flight tracking website reported that there were 1,252 cancellations for flights within, into to out of the United States.
"We expect the number of COVID cases in the northeast – where most of our crew members are based – to continue to surge for the next week or two," a JetBlue spokesperson said in a statement acquired by Reuters. "This means there is a high likelihood of additional cancellations until case counts start to come down."
This comes as COVID-19 cases, largely due to the highly transmissible omicron variant, are surging across the country — hitting record numbers daily in Florida. On Thursday, the state reported an all-time high of 58,013 new cases for Dec. 29.
If you are exposed to COVID-19, the CDC recommends waiting five days to get tested more the most accurate results. You can find a testing location in the Tampa Bay area here.
