CHICAGO—U.S. airlines have come a long way since the spring of 2020 when COVID-19 brought the industry to its knees. Yet the pandemic will loom large when big carriers report quarterly earnings starting on Thursday.
The latest wave of the health crisis, driven by the highly contagious Omicron coronavirus variant, has caused havoc for a short-staffed industry. A multifold increase in daily sick calls, as well as a series of winter storms, have led to mass cancellation of flights.
