LAX Cancels 45 More Flights Tuesday Due to COVID-19 Issues

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) - More flights were canceled at Southland airports and around the world Tuesday, as a wave of holiday week cancellations driven by the coronavirus pandemic continued to inconvenience travelers.

As of 8:30 a.m., 45 flights for the day had been canceled, according to the tracking site FlightAware.com. There were also 76 delayed flights.

"I had an earlier flight today and it got canceled last night," said Stefanie Trowbridge, a traveler at LAX Tuesday. "Now I'm on a new flight but the line is so long for it, I don't even know if I'm going to make it."

LAX's website listed 33 cancellations for Monday.

Orange County's John Wayne Airport had six cancellations Monday, Long Beach Airport had one and Hollywood/Burbank Airport had none, according to Flight Aware.

On Sunday, LAX saw 138 cancellations, with 29 at John Wayne Airport, nine in Burbank and two in Long Beach, according to Flight Aware. Nationwide, there were 1,463 cancellations Sunday, and 3,248 worldwide.

There were 96 cancellations at LAX on Christmas Day and 86 on Friday.

The scrapped flights are largely blamed on airline staffing shortages caused by the latest surge in coronavirus cases, fueled by the Omicron variant. Weather issues were also causing some of the cancellations.

"This evening will be another busy travel day. There are cancellations and delays around the country, including at LAX tonight, so please check your flight status with your airline for the latest and arrive with extra time," LAX tweeted Monday.