ANA Holdings had halted 79 flights as of 4 pm (0700 GMT),
affecting about 5,100 passengers, said Hiroaki Hayakawa, an operations director
for the airline.
Japan Airlines Co had cancelled 49 flights as of 4 pm (0700
GMT), affecting 2,460 passengers, a representative with the airline’s
operations division said.
Worldwide, thousands of flights have been cancelled over the
Christmas weekend because of the rapid spread of the new omicron coronavirus
variant.
Japan, which tightened border controls to counter the threat
from , has reported only about a dozen cases of community spread of the new
variant and 231 total infections,
including overseas arrivals, according to the health ministry.
