US airlines cancel more than a thousand Christmas flights as the COVID-19 disease surges, prompting hospitals to seek help.

Millions of people have faced travel disruption over Christmas after airline companies have cancelled thousands of flights worldwide as the surging Omicron variant creates greater uncertainty and misery for holiday travelers.

Computer networks issues cause problems in 3 US airlines, grounding flights.

British airline giant, IAG, has reported a full year net loss of billions of dollars on the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.

In a world first, Dutch airline KLM used synthetic kerosene in a flight last month.

The company has grounded 95 percent of its fleet, leaving just seven aircraft in operation.

Many US airlines are cancelling between 60% and 80% of their flights, and under federal law passengers on those flights are entitled to full refunds, Senators Ed Markey, Elizabeth Warren and Richard Blumenthal said in a statement.