It is still impossible to determine the number of flights that will be canceled in this winter season in the world, as a result of the new strain of Covid-19, which has been joined by the climate component in some places. Ómicron came to ruin the recovery plans in this high season and although there are those who say that it is the last tail of the pandemic, the truth is that he broke the upward trend and the optimistic forecasts so that 2022 would be the year in which the traffic will reach at least 85% or more than it was in 2019.
In preparation for the winter season, the airlines, which had cut their fleets and workforce by up to 50%, reincorporated them to meet the growth in demand expected due to vaccination rates and the new “health passports” that were implemented. fashion in the European Union, thanks to the QR’s that all pharmaceutical companies incorporated into the application of their vaccines.
Unfortunately, many crew members reported that they had been infected by the new omicron strain and many passengers canceled their vacations for the same reason. The wave of infections, much higher than expected, caused the best forecasts to be frustrated even when the intensity of this variant is much lower than the Delta, but when in doubt, no one wants to repeat the stories of uncontrollable deaths due to trusting in the systems of Health.
According to specialists, omicron is acting as a kind of vaccine (even for those who decided not to get vaccinated) because it is a strain with “attenuated virus” that will achieve the desired herd immunity and will make 2022 the year in which humanity came out of its crisis.
However, this is nothing more than a good New Year’s wish. The reality is that both in the United States and Canada as well as in Europe there are thousands of canceled flights. Even the US Federal Aviation Agency, the FAA, complained that its own inspectors and employees have tested positive for Covid and this is in addition to the winter storms that are hitting the northern United States, from west to east. , which have forced the cancellation of flights at several airports from Seattle, Chicago, Detroit and Salt Lake City and are expected to move to New York and Atlanta.
In Europe, the omicron variant has also generated cancellations and only Lufthansa has already announced that it will stop operating 33 thousand flights due to these conditions. Fortunately, no one has thought about closing borders again.
Many governments have understood that these measures, far from helping, complicated things and that it is better to seek to standardize processes than to take unilateral measures.
Meanwhile, in Mexico they tell us that it was not possible to start the agreement to which the National Migration Institute (INM) of Segob, Customs, the airport groups and AFAC agreed to install the kiosks that would speed up the entry procedures of travelers from Mexico, the United States and Canada, initially at the AICM and Cancun, due to a software failure. Pity. We wish all readers a happy 2022 and that this year we have better news to comment on.
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