Logan Airport Recovery Timeline: Phased runway reopenings and staggered flight ramps through Wednesday

Why this matters now: Logan Airport is shifting from emergency operations to a deliberate, phased restart that will change travel plans for anyone booked in the next 48–72 hours. Crews are prioritizing runway work and a smaller schedule before attempting a full recovery, which means travelers can expect some international flights to return earlier while many domestic routes remain disrupted.

What will change at Logan Airport in the coming days

Here’s the part that matters: airport leaders and airline planners are not flipping a single switch back to normal. Instead, the plan is to reopen additional runway capacity incrementally and rebuild a reduced flight schedule, with a target of restoring a full timetable by Wednesday. International departures are expected to resume more quickly in the afternoon and evening window, but domestic service is being rebuilt more slowly because connecting aircraft and crews are tied up across the region.

What’s easy to miss is that physical runway clearance is only one piece of the restart; crew positioning, aircraft rotations and broader network effects across other hubs are equally limiting factors. Strong winds and heavy snow have already limited usable capacity, and personnel and equipment must be reset before the airport can handle typical volumes.

Operational picture and travel impacts

Flight tallies from the storm period show roughly on the order of a thousand cancellations at the airport on Monday, with several hundred more early the next day. Nationally, cancellations ran into the thousands on the worst day and continued at elevated levels thereafter. Airport crews kept at least one runway open through the height of the storm but are aiming to bring a second runway back into service as conditions allow.

• Runways: One runway remained operable during cleanup; the immediate goal is to clear and open a second runway before expanding the schedule.
• Schedule ramp: Expect a smaller flight plan on the day crews add runway capacity, followed by a phased return toward a full schedule by Wednesday.
• International vs domestic: International departures are likely to resume sooner in limited windows; domestic routings will lag as airlines reassemble planes and crews displaced by the storm.
• Weather factor: High winds and heavy snowfall reduced usable airport capacity and increased the time needed to clear surfaces and reposition equipment.

Travelers should keep plans flexible: check a carrier’s status before leaving for the airport, anticipate delays even after flights are listed as scheduled, and prepare for longer processing times at arrival and departure points while ground operations normalize.

The real question now is how quickly connecting hubs across the region can return to normal; the airport cannot restore its full network if partner cities and key domestic gateways remain constrained.

Micro timeline of the immediate sequence:

• Storm period: Widespread cancellations left many travelers stranded and grounded aircraft across the network.
• Cleanup phase: Crews maintained one runway while working to clear additional surfaces; strong winds complicated the effort.
• Phased ramp: A smaller schedule will be reintroduced first, with an aim to reach full operations by Wednesday.

What travelers can do now (quick Q& A)

• When will flights resume? Some flights will return as runways are cleared and airlines rebuild rosters; international departures may reappear earlier in the day, while a full domestic schedule is not expected until the target day of a few days out.
• How should I plan if I’m scheduled to travel? Expect disruptions, avoid heading to the airport without confirmation, and be prepared for changed connections and longer waits as operations normalize.
• Are there secondary issues to consider? Yes—processing backlogs from expedited-travel program suspensions and regional security disruptions have compounded airport strain and could extend recovery timelines for some returning passengers.

It’s easy to overlook, but restoring a full flight schedule is as much a coordination challenge across the airline network as it is a local snow-removal effort. The real test will be whether neighboring hubs and crew rotations come back online quickly enough to support a full domestic relaunch.