Thousands of Flights Canceled Monday After Snowstorm

Winter Storm Disrupts Air Travel Plans for Thousands on MondayDelays and cancellations persisted, a day after more than 11,000 flights were canceled. Airports in the Northeast U.S. were hit the hardest.Passengers at LaGuardia Airport dealt with delays and cancellations because of the winter storm on Sunday.Credit...Charly Triballeau/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesJan. 26, 2026Updated 10:52 a.m. ETAir travel was slowly beginning to recover on Monday, though thousands of flights across dozens of airports remained canceled and delayed after a winter storm brought heavy snow and ice to much of the Eastern United States over the weekend.About 4,000 departing and arriving flights to the United States were canceled and over 2,000 were delayed as of 10 a.m., according to FlightAware, a flight tracking site. More disruptions were expected later and most major airlines were offering travel waivers and rebooking options for customers affected by the storm.While the storm began wreaking havoc on Friday, airlines may be able to bounce back quickly. Because they had days to prepare, many airlines canceled flights and moved planes and workers to be ready to restart normal operations. The end of January is among the slowest periods for air travel of the year, meaning carriers have more resources and flexibility to respond to storms.The transportation secretary, Sean Duffy, said on Monday that he hoped flights would return to normal by midweek.“We’re looking at Wednesday as our hope to get back to a normal schedule,” he said in an interview on CNBC. He added: “The snow is subsiding in the northeast, so now it’s dig-out day.”Still, the recovery could be bumpy. Sunday was the worst day for flight cancellations since the early days of the pandemic in March 2020, according to Mr. Duffy. And lingering ice and frigid temperatures could slow flights in the days ahead.Over the weekend, airports in Atlanta, Dallas and Charlotte, N.C., saw the largest number of cancellations for departing flights, but the disruption followed the weather.Boston Logan International Airport was reporting the highest number of cancellations on Monday, with about 300, or 60 percent of its scheduled departures, according to FlightAware. Nearly half the departures out of Kennedy Airport, La Guardia Airport, and Newark Liberty International Airport had been canceled.Flights were expected to gradually restart on Monday at Washington’s Reagan National Airport after airlines canceled all trips the day before, the airport said on X.American Airlines, the world’s largest carrier, was the most affected airline over the weekend and on Monday. The airline has a big hub at the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, one of the busiest airports in the world. Fort Worth was among the first major cities hit by the storm on Friday. American had canceled about 3,000 flights from Friday through Sunday, according to FlightAware. It had canceled more than 650 on Monday, more than any other carrier.Niraj Chokshi is a Times reporter who writes about aviation, rail and other transportation industries.Jin Yu Young is a reporter and researcher for The Times, based in Seoul, covering South Korea and international breaking news.SKIP