Flights canceled, delayed at Las Vegas airport on New Year’s Day
Dozens of flights were either delayed or canceled on New Year’s Day at Harry Reid International Airport as the nation continues to grapple with an aviation industry slowdown.
The flight tracking website Flightview listed at least 24 domestic flights at Harry Reid that were canceled Saturday. The figure encompassed both arriving and departing flights. At least 13 other domestic flights were delayed. There were at least 16 international arriving and departing flights that were canceled and another 16 that were delayed.
The Associated Press reports that thousands of flights have been canceled across the nation since Christmas. Blame has been assigned to the spread of the omicron variant of COVID-19, which knocked out flight crews at airlines that had already reduced the size of their workforces following the collapse of air travel in 2020. The wave of omicron infections arrived at the same time that crowds began to pack airports for holiday travel. Then the Pacific Northwest and other areas were slammed with cold and heavy snows.
“Be prepared, check with your airline for flight status updates and get here early,” airport spokeswoman Stacey Kepler said on Friday.
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