Although there are obviously opportunities for OR to be used in this case, I think that there will be little effect on OR and OR people.

The real opportunity would have occurred if the airlines completely fell to pieces, and the logistics took months to untangle. In that case there may have been a general call for a "better way" of doing things, and us OR people could put our hands up.

However, it looks like they have responded quite well and efficiently. No doubt because they already have robust OR-based procedures in place, or systems that incorporate OR techniques in the back end.

How many other transportation areas were affected (trains, buses, ships). Do airlines have contingency plans if the skies are shut down? It would be interesting to see how this airport shut down affected the train business if they were able to still operate. Could OR be used to determine emergency alternate transportation methods?

I am sure the OR group in each of the affected airlines are busy right now rerunning their flight and crew scheduling models (since quite a few airports are going to open today).