This scrapping of flights worldwide has clipped the wings, if you will, of travellers around the world.

To be specific, 5,900 flights were cancelled on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and today.

According to our sources, Chinese and US airlines are the ones which have been most affected as disruptions are predicted to stretch into Monday, and beyond.

The reasons for this grounding of flights are multiple, however, airline companies have blamed this unfortunate occurrence on staff shortages.

These shortages have, in turn, been blamed on the fast-spreading Omicron variant.

Staff shortages are reportedly due to airline crews testing positive, or being forced to self-isolate.

The Omicron variant of Covid-19 has been described by scientists as mild, however the overwhelming number of cases reported are a serious cause for concern.

In late November 2021, the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 (the virus which causes COVID-19) was designated as a variant of concern by the World Health Organization.

It was reported that it had higher transmissibility and vaccines were less effective in fighting it.

The Omicron variant has been detected in multiple countries since discovery, and as of December 21, 2021, 12,947 cases have been detected in Europe with 10,866 of these in the United Kingdom.

On top of that, the Omicron variant is the dominant Covid strain in the U.S., representing 73% of sequenced cases.

In the light of all this, more than 450 flights to or from US airports have been cancelled today.

Heathrow airport in London has seen 56 flights cancelled, too.

Overall, global airlines have cancelled about 5,700 flights since Friday.

Nearly 5.4 million people have died of Covid-19 worldwide, according to America's Johns Hopkins University. There have been more than 279 million confirmed cases worldwide.

Although vaccines seem to be effective, in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, there is no “zero risk” when it comes to people coming together and so more flights will be cancelled.