More than 6,000 flights have been called off across the globe around the Christmas weekend with thousands also being delayed, putting a pin in the travel plans of thousands of people across the globe over the holiday season, according to media reports citing a flight-tracking website.

Multiple flights were called off over the last two days. According to Flightaware.com, about 2,800 flights were cancelled worldwide on Saturday. Out of these, over 970 were either departing or arriving in the United States.

While Sunday’s flight cancellation tally has already crossed 1,100 by evening, around 11,000 delays and 2,400 cancellations were noted on Friday.

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The flight tracker does not mention the cause of cancellation and delays, multiple airlines have already explained that multiple pilot and crew members have been potentially exposed to COVID or have tested positive, forcing them to quarantine. The news comes as the omicron variant of coronavirus has tightened its grip across the world.

Delta, United and JetBlue had all said Friday that the omicron variant was causing staffing problems leading to flight cancellations. United spokesperson Maddie King said staffing shortages were still causing cancellations and it was unclear when normal operations would return.

“This was unexpected,” she said of omicron’s impact on staffing, according to reports from Associated Press.

The mass flight cancellations have forced multiple people to spend time away from loved ones on Christmas before seeing the chaotic scenes at the airport and spending hours standing in line and on the phone trying to rebook flights.

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FlightAware’s data shows airlines scrapped more than 6,000 flights globally for Friday, Saturday and Sunday combined as of Saturday evening, with almost one-third of affected flights to, from or within the United States.

Delta, JetBlue and United Airlines called off more than 10% of their scheduled Saturday flights. American Airlines also canceled more than 90 flights Saturday, about 3% of its schedule.