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A LaGuardia crash kills 2, hurts dozens and closes the airport. Here's what to know

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− By Rachel Treisman The damaged Air Canada Express CRJ-900 sits on the LaGuardia runway Monday morning.
+ By Rachel Treisman , Ayana Archie The damaged Air Canada Express CRJ-900 sits on the LaGuardia runway Monday morning.
Timothy A.
− Clary/AFP via Getty Images hide caption New York's LaGuardia Airport is reopening on Monday afternoon, half a day after a runway collision between an Air Canada regional jet and a fire truck killed both pilots and injured dozens of passengers.
+ Clary/AFP via Getty Images hide caption New York's LaGuardia Airport has reopened, half a day after a runway collision between an Air Canada regional jet and a fire truck killed both pilots and injured dozens of passengers.
Air Canada Flight 8646, operated by regional airline Jazz Aviation, was landing in New York around 11:30 p.m. Sunday when it struck a Port Authority Aircraft Rescue and Firefighting vehicle, said Kathryn Garcia, executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the airport. National ICE officers set to deploy to airports as delays mount, border czar Homan confirms Officials say 72 passengers and four crew members were on board the flight from Montréal-Trudeau International Airport. Garcia said at a press conference early Monday that the pilot and first officer, who have not yet been identified, were both killed. She said 41 passengers and crew members were transported to the hospital. "At this time we understand 32 have been released, but there are also serious injuries," Garcia said early Monday. The collision happened just before midnight on Sunday. Ryan Murphy/AP hide caption She declined to elaborate on the condition of the nine people who remained hospitalized at the time of the press conference. Air Canada said in a Monday morning statement that it "cannot confirm the exact number of injuries or if there are other fatalities at this time." Capt. Jason Ambrosi, president of the Air Line Pilots Association, Int'l, issued a statement calling "the loss of our two fellow crewmembers onboard Flight 8646 … a profound tragedy." Garcia deferred many of the reporters' questions to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), the federal agency that investigates civil transportation accidents, which quickly dispatched a go-team to New York.
− LaGuardia remained closed on Monday morning to facilitate that investigation.
+ LaGuardia reopened to passengers at 5:30 a.m.
− It reopened a single runway at 2 p.m.
+ Monday, and reopened a single runway at 2 p.m.
− ET as planned, even as the mangled plane sat on another.
+ ET, Garcia said, even as the mangled plane was still in the same spot of the crash.
The airport tweeted that even after resuming flights, "travelers should expect residual delays and cancellations." ICE agents patrol Terminal B at LaGuardia Airport on Monday. They were deployed to several airports nationwide in light of the partial government shutdown. Michael M.
− Santiago/Getty Images hide caption Meanwhile, state and federal leaders on both sides of the border offered condolences and called for a swift investigation into the circumstances of the crash. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and Federal Aviation Administration head Brad Bedford both said on social media that they were headed to the scene on Monday.
+ Santiago/Getty Images hide caption Meanwhile, state and federal leaders on both sides of the American and Canadian border offered condolences and called for a swift investigation into the circumstances of the crash.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney called the collision "deeply saddening" and said transportation safety officials are working closely with their U.S. counterparts on the ground.
− President Trump, asked about it before boarding Air Force One, called it "terrible:" "They made a mistake.
+ President Trump was asked about it before boarding Air Force One and called it "terrible:" "They made a mistake," he said.
− It's a dangerous business." The collision crumpled the front of the passenger jet, tilting its nose upward and forcing passengers to evacuate through emergency exits.
+ "It's a dangerous business." The fire truck was being deployed to a United Airlines plane that had an aborted takeoff, Federal Aviation Administration head Brad Bedford said at a press conference at LaGuardia on Monday afternoon.
+ The Air Canada plane was coming down the runway when the vehicles crashed at an intersection, Bedford said. The collision crumpled the front of the passenger jet, tilting its nose upward and forcing passengers to evacuate through emergency exits.
Photos from the scene show debris hanging from the exposed cockpit and scattered across the tarmac, as the damaged emergency vehicle lies on its side nearby. The damaged Port Authority fire truck sits near the runway on Monday. Officials said the two people on board were hospitalized but in stable condition. Timothy A. Clary/AFP via Getty Images hide caption Garcia said the two officers on board the Port Authority vehicle were in "stable condition with no life-threatening injuries." The firetruck had been on the runway at the discretion of air traffic control, responding to a separate "odor" incident involving a United Airlines plane, she said. National Airport security lines are long. Here's what to know if you're flying "Anytime anyone is moving on any of our runways or taxiways, they have to get clearance from the tower," she added. On an audio feed from the time of the incident, archived on the website LiveATC.net, an air traffic controller can be heard granting clearance to the vehicle to cross the tarmac, then quickly and repeatedly calling on it to stop. Not long after, a different voice says they have just gotten word the airport will be closed for a while, adding, "that wasn't good to watch." "I tried to reach out to them, I stopped them," the original voice says.
− "We were dealing with an emergency earlier and I messed up." All flights into and out of LaGuardia Airport were cancelled on Monday morning.
+ "We were dealing with an emergency earlier and I messed up." Bedford said it was misty and foggy at the time of the incident, with moderate winds and a visibility of about four miles. "These were two young men at the start of their careers, so it's an absolute tragedy that we're sitting here with their loss," he said. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said he would not comment on the circumstances leading to the crash, and, like Garcia earlier in the day, told reporters those details would come out in the NTSB report. However, he urged Congress to approve more funding to upgrade air traffic control equipment. "It's important if we care about air travel safety," he said.
+ But he said he wasn't suggesting the crash could have been prevented with the upgrades. LaGuardia's air traffic control is relatively well staffed, Duffy said. It has a staffing goal of having 37 controllers working there; it currently has 33, with seven more in training, he said. Training controllers to work in the LaGuardia airspace can take more than a year, Duffy said. He said he has offered bonuses to controllers of age to retire to stay on the job. All flights into and out of LaGuardia Airport were cancelled on Monday morning.
It's one of three main airports serving the New York City area. Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images hide caption Over 600 flights into or out of LaGuardia were cancelled on Monday, according to a tracker from FlightAware. Many of those were operated by Delta Airlines, for which LaGuardia is a major hub.
− The airline said in a statement that it would automatically rebook affected passengers "to the next best itinerary.
+ The airline said in a statement that it would automatically rebook affected passengers "to the next best itinerary." Your Money How the Iran war is disrupting air travel — and advice if you're planning a trip LaGuardia was the 19th busiest airport in the U.S.
− ," and that "additional schedule adjustments are possible if the closure extends." Your Money How the Iran war is disrupting air travel — and advice if you're planning a trip LaGuardia was the 19th busiest airport in the U.S.
in 2024, according to Federal Aviation Administration data.
− It saw about 900 inbound and outbound flights per day in January 2026, according to a Port Authority dashboard.
+ It had about 900 inbound and outbound flights per day in January 2026, according to a Port Authority dashboard.
It is one of the three main airports serving the New York City metropolitan area. Another, Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey, briefly issued a ground stop on Monday morning after the air traffic control tower was evacuated due to smoke, according to local media. Travelers pass the time at LaGuardia on Monday morning. Steve Kastenbaum for NPR hide caption Air travel has recently been fraught for many Americans, due to the partial government shutdown affecting the Department of Homeland Security, which is now in its sixth week. Many Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers, forced to work without pay, have either quit or called out from work, resulting in longer security lines at many airports. The Trump administration said over the weekend that it would be sending Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to assist at unspecified airports around the country starting Monday. LaGuardia is one of those airports. ICE agents were spotted near TSA security checkpoints even before flights resumed. Sponsor Message Become an NPR sponsor