This blog post was updated on October 1, 2018.
As the Northeast continues to dig out following its latest brush with winter weather, the immense impact of the latest storm is coming into focus.
Officials now estimate that up to 5,400 flights have been canceled as a result of the powerful system, which dropped nearly a foot and a half of snow in some areas.
New York City was once again hit hardest, with JFK Airport and Newark International completely shut down until about noon Thursday.
The shutdown of two of the nation’s busiest hubs sent a ripple effect around the entire globe.
Airports all over the world were forced to cancel most New York-bound flights through Thursday evening.
However, industry experts expect things to return to normal much more quickly than they did following a Christmas-weekend blizzard last month. The fallout from that storm slowed travel for over a week.
One reason for the optimism is a smaller traffic load. Most airports experience a lull in late January following the holiday rush. Daniel Baker, CEO of flight tracking site FlightAware, told USA Today that he expects most stranded passengers to be in the air by Saturday at the latest.
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