Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy stated that the FAA needs two more days to recover from significant flight disruptions caused by a massive winter storm over the weekend. More than 15,000 U.S. flights were canceled, with over 4,000 cancellations and 10,000 delays on Monday. The FAA aims for flights to resume normalcy on Wednesday.

The storm brought challenges with ice, snow, and cold weather, making navigation difficult. Sunday saw the largest flight cancellations since early 2020 due to the storm. Commuting issues led to lower staffing for the FAA, causing further disruptions. Tuesday had roughly 250 cancellations, much lower than the weekend.

Over 2,700 flights were canceled at LaGuardia Airport alone due to Winter Storm Fern. Airlines like American, Delta, JetBlue, Southwest, and United are waiving cancellation fees for customers to rebook. The storm comes on the heels of Caribbean airspace closures following U.S. attacks in Venezuela.

Airlines canceled flights ahead of the storm to prevent stranding passengers post-clearance. Despite January being a low travel season, hundreds of thousands of people were affected by the storm. The FAA is focusing on salting and clearing runways to resume full operations by Wednesday.

Read more at CNBC: Air travel will return to normal by Wednesday, DOT Sec. Sean Duffy says