Dozens of flights canceled, delayed over holiday weekend at John Wayne Airport

Like Los Angeles International Airport and others across the country, John Wayne Airport was inundated with travelers over the holiday weekend and faced much of the same troubles with flight delays and cancellations as its larger counterparts.

While officials said they did not observe a significant number of passengers sleeping or experiencing long waits in the terminal, they did confirm Monday that the airport saw a significant number of delayed or canceled flights over the holiday weekend.

On Christmas Eve, 10 flights were canceled and 76 were delayed. On Christmas Day, cancelled flights decreased to five and 50 flights were delayed. The day after Christmas, Sunday, Dec. 26, saw the highest numbers, , with 30 flights canceled and 124 delayed across the 12 airlines that service John Wayne.

That numbers slightly declined by Monday, when 21 flights were canceled and 91 were delayed.

The airline industry attributes the winter surge in coronavirus cases as the reason for reduced airline staffing levels, leading to cancelled or delayed flights.

“The nationwide spike in Omicron cases has had a direct impact on our flight crews and the people who run our operation,” said a statement issued by United Airlines. “As a result, we’ve unfortunately had to cancel some flights and are notifying impacted customers in advance of them coming to the airport.

“We’re sorry for the disruption and are working hard to rebook as many people as possible and get them on their way during the holidays,” the statement continued.

American Airlines spokesman Derek Walls said operations have remained smooth Wednesday with only one departure out of John Wayne Airport canceled.

The holiday travel period has been punctuated by a growth of COVID-19 hospitalizations in California due to the spread of the Omicron variant, which officials are expecting to get worse in the coming weeks. The same is true in Orange County, where hospitalizations were 376 Wednesday, compared to 198 reported just two weeks ago on Dec. 17 when local health officials announced the first case of the Omicron variant in the county.

At least 72 of those cases are currently in intensive care units.

The Delta variant currently remains the dominant strand in Orange County, according to county data Wednesday, though three cases of the Omicron variant have been recorded in those between18 and 34 and one case in an individual between 65 and 74.

An inquiry as to how this year’s traffic compared to the same period a year ago at John Wayne Airport went unanswered. Spokeswoman AnnaSophia Servin said airport officials would not to speculate on potential travel impacts due to the virus over New Year’s weekend.

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