Alaska Airlines Cuts 10% of January Schedule

As new Covid-19 cases reach new highs, travel demand is taking a hit and airlines are struggling with a staff shortage. Airlines have been cutting flights, at least for the following month. Alaska Airlines is now the latest carrier to make such changes because of the continued impact of omicron.

Alaska will cut about 10% of its planned schedule through the end of January. That is expected to give the airline the flexibility and capacity needed to reset while continued flexible travel policies enable guests to adjust their plans accordingly.

“This will also give us time and space to find our path forward together, with Covid-19 as a continued reality in our business and our world,” the airline said in a statement. “We are deeply grateful for how our incredible employees have pulled together to take care of our guests and each other, operate safely and make the best of a very difficult situation. To our guests, we apologize for the considerable inconvenience and are working hard to return to the level of service they know and expect from us.”

Alaska’s decision comes just week after JetBlue announced it would be cutting 1,280 flights through mid-January because of staffing shortages caused by the highly-contagious variant.