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Portland dodged the worst of the Christmas snowstorm. But you still may have trouble getting in and out of town.
Portland International Airport saw 43 flights canceled Monday, as the Omicron variant reduced airline flight crews and winter weather snarled travel plans across the West.
Another 72 flights were delayed, according to the airport’s website. That’s a fraction of the hundreds of planes that land and depart from PDX daily. But it represents a significant increase from the handful of flights canceled in recent days—and occurs as many Oregonians are making their first trips in over a year.
Kama Simonds, a spokeswoman for the Port of Portland, tells WW that many of the scuttled flights were headed to or from cities that are snowed under. “We’re seeing a number of cancellations to cities that are being impacted by winter weather at this time, like Seattle and Salt Lake City,” she said.
Portland’s troubles are in part a spillover from the chaos at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, where more than 250 flights were canceled Sunday. CNN reported today that Sea-Tac has the most delays or cancellations of any airport worldwide.
Airlines have also reported that their flight crews were thinned by the rapidly spreading Omicron variant of the COVID-19 virus. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s coronavirus czar, suggested today requiring vaccinations for commercial airline passengers.
“The nationwide spike in Omicron cases this week has had a direct impact on our flight crews and the people who run our operation,” United Airlines told the New York Post.
Simonds says it’s difficult to gauge how much of Portland’s travel delays can be traced to the virus. “We’re also hearing reports of that at the national level, but we don’t have line-of-sight to that at PDX,” she tells WW.