U.S. flight cancellations continue into the weekend.

Airlines canceled thousands of flights in recent days as they tried to move past the holiday.

Airlines have called off many flights in advance so they can correct course at a traditionally slow time for travel without surprising customers with last-minute cancellation.

The daily number of flights being canceled decreased over the course of the weekend. Southwest Airlines suspended more flights than any other carrier. SkyWest Airlines and United Airlines canceled hundreds of flights.

The turmoil began before Christmas due to bad weather in the West and staff shortages. The snowfall in the Northeast continued into the first weekend of the month.

SkyWest said in a statement that they have been working with each of their major partners to reduce their January schedules due to the surge in Covid cases. The airline operates flights for five airlines and said it was taking a break to make sure they could adequately staff their remaining flights.

In the first half of January, the airline said it would cut about 1,300 flights after canceling flights at high rates over the holidays. Alaska said in a statement last week that it would cut about one in 10 flights for the month to get the flexibility and capacity needed to reset.

As in many other industries, airlines are having to contend with workers calling in sick at high rates as the Omicron virus variant spreads at astonishing speed.

Allison Ausband, Delta's chief customer experience officer, apologized to customers for the disorder in a statement last week.

Extra pay has been offered to those who were not scheduled to work. Southwest said last week that it was offering double pay for most of the month to employees who picked up extra shifts, including ground staff, flight attendants, customer service employees, flight schedulers and maintenance technicians.

The industry is preparing for a significant rebound this summer, which is frustrating because of the chaos. The recovery depends on the hope that the Pandemic will be under control by then and that people will be more willing to travel internationally and for work.