Chaos continues at US airports as more than 2,600 flights have been cancelled

FlightAware said more than 2,600 flights in the United States and nearly 4,600 flights around the world were canceled on Saturday.

Air travel continued to be severely disrupted in the United States on Saturday, and severe weather in some parts of the country added to the impact of the massive increase in COVID-19 infections fueled by the Omicron variant.

The United States canceled 2,604 flights, and more than half of the 4,529 flights were canceled worldwide, shortly after 4:30 p.m. (2130 GMT), according to tracking website FlightAware.

In addition, 3,447 domestic flights were postponed on Saturday, out of a total of 7,602 flights around the world during the day.

According to the site, the American company Southwest was the worst affected, as it had to cancel 13 percent of its flight schedule.

In the United States, Chicago airports were particularly affected by bad weather, with a snow storm expected in the area Saturday afternoon and into the evening.

The global air travel industry continues to suffer from the highly contagious Omicron variant.

Many pilots, flight attendants and other staff are absent from work after contracting COVID-19, or because they are in quarantine after coming into contact with an infected person.

Airlines around the world canceled about 7,500 flights over the Christmas holidays.