United Airlines is reducing their flight volume to mitigate the spread of COVID.

Thousands of flights have been canceled recently and aviation companies are taking note of it. CEO Scott Kirby said, “[we are] reducing our near-term schedules to make sure we have the staffing and resources to take care of customers… the Omicron surge has put a strain on our operation, resulting in customer disruptions during a busy holiday season.” He went on to thank employees for their professionalism in handling the delays.

Other airlines such as JetBlue have also canceled flights as well. About 10% of airlines schedule have been cut due to the uptick of positive cases of COVID-19.

About 3,000 employees are currently positive for COVID and have placed a shortage of pilots and other related staff members. The hospitalization rate, however, has decreased significantly since then and have been relatively low.

As soon as the amount of positive cases start to decrease, airlines will not be forced to cut their schedules.