More than 1,300 flights canceled Tuesday as omicron, weather continue to hamper operations

Airlines continued to struggle with staffing and weather issues Tuesday, with more than 1,300 additional flights canceled, but they are hoping that schedule reductions and a post-holiday slowdown in passenger traffic will enable them to return to normal operations.

Among major U.S. carriers, Southwest Airlines continued to be the hardest hit; 644 flights, or 16% of scheduled departures, were canceled Tuesday, according to aviation data provider FlightAware. The Dallas-based carrier was trying to recover from storms in the Midwest that affected its operations in Chicago, only to be slammed by a snowstorm at its Baltimore hub.

Regional carrier SkyWest also continues to make improvements; 155, or 7%, of its flights were canceled Tuesday, compared to 405, or 17%, of departures Monday.

The holiday season has been rough for airlines and their customers in the United States and around the globe as carriers struggle with the omicron variant’s effects on staffing and with storms in hubs that forced the cancellations of several hundred, then several thousand flights. More than 3,000 flights to, from and within the United States were canceled Monday, the worst day by far in a nearly two-week span of flight disruptions.

Since significant numbers of cancellations began Dec. 24, more than 18,000 U.S. flights have been canceled. Many passengers have taken to social media to complain about hours-long waits to reach customer service agents by phone, saying that efforts to rebook flights online or use airline apps have proved frustrating.

But amid those frustrations, some hopeful signs emerged. In the D.C. region, where heavy snow prompted the Federal Aviation Administration to temporarily halt inbound traffic at Baltimore Washington International Marshall and Reagan National airports for several hours Monday, flight operations were slowly returning to normal.

According to FlightAware, roughly 22% of scheduled departures were canceled at BWI, compared to 42% on Monday. At National, by far the hardest hit of the region’s three airports, 18% of departing flights were canceled Tuesday, compared to 87% on Monday. At Washington Dulles International, 2% of departures were canceled - a fraction of the 25% on Monday.

Air traffic into and out of O’Hare International and Midway in Chicago also significantly improved Tuesday after the airports were the hub of air travel disruptions over the weekend. On Saturday, 408 departures at O’Hare were canceled, while 129 out of Midway were scrubbed. Nearly 600 flights into both airports also were canceled. By Tuesday, there were only 28 canceled departures at O’Hare and 16 at Midway.

It is not clear when the flight disruptions will end. Some carriers, including JetBlue Airways, have preemptively reduced their flight schedules for at least a portion of January in hopes of better matching staffing levels to flight operations. JetBlue officials also said they hoped that preemptively canceling some flights would avoid leaving customers stranded at the last minute.

Alaska Airlines, which has been trying to recover after a Dec. 26 storm dumped record amounts of snow on Seattle, said it is reaching out to customers via email to let them know if there are issues with their flights.

Like most carriers, the Seattle-based carrier also is struggling with a higher-than-usual number of absences among employees due to coronavirus infections. That, the airline said in an emailed statement, has complicated recovery in many of its hubs.

“We sincerely apologize for the considerable inconvenience and understandable frustration that our guests have experienced this past week.” the carrier said. “We’re using all our resources to get our guests to their destination as soon as possible, while operating safely.”