Cape Girardeau Regional Airport (CGI) continued to operate as normal Christmas weekend despite United Airlines' decision to call off 175 flights Friday and 240 on Saturday -- in part due to COVID-19 cases impacting air crews.
United Express partner SkyWest Airlines had a flight leave CGI at 6:09 a.m. on Christmas Day -- and it arrived successfully at 7:32 a.m. at Chicago O'Hare Airport.
United and Delta Airlines both announced flight cancellations mostly due to staff shortages tied to the Omicron variant of COVID-19.
Delta canceled 145 flights on Christmas Eve and 309 on Christmas Day.
"The nationwide spike in Omicron cases has had a direct impact on our flight crews and the people who run our operation," United said in a statement Thursday.
Jet Blue and American Airlines canceled 123 and 92 flights, respectively, on Christmas Day.
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