Key Points
- Nine people remain in hospital with serious injuries.
- More than 500 flights were cancelled at the airport, one of the United States' busiest hubs,
An Air Canada Express jet collided with a fire truck while landing at New York's LaGuardia airport on Monday, killing both pilots, injuring dozens and closing the facility, authorities said.
The Air Canada Express CRJ-900 plane, operated by its regional partner Jazz Aviation, was carrying 72 passengers and four crew members and had departed from Montreal, said Jazz, which is owned by Chorus Aviation. Jazz and the port authority of New York and New Jersey confirmed that the pilot and first officer were killed.
The crash comes as US aviation faces chronic shortages of air traffic controllers and a separate shortfall of Transportation Security Administration officers due to a partial government shutdown that has led to delays, long security lines and heightened safety concerns across airports nationwide.
"Today is an incredibly difficult day for our airline, our employees, and most importantly, the families and loved ones of those affected by the accident," said Jazz president Doug Clarke.
Kathryn Garcia, executive director of the port authority, said 32 of the 41 injured had been released, while nine remained in hospital with "serious injuries."
US transportation secretary Sean Duffy said at least two Port Authority firefighters sustained serious injuries.
Garcia said the fire truck was responding to a separate United Airlines aircraft that had "reported an issue with odour." United, along with unions representing US air traffic controllers and Air Canada pilots, declined to comment.
Minutes earlier, air traffic control audio from LiveATC.net indicated that a United flight had declared an emergency due to an odour onboard. Controllers advised the crew that fire trucks were already on site.
A later transmission captured a fire truck being cleared to cross Runway 4 at taxiway 'Delta', where the collision occurred.
Moments later, according to the ATC audio, a controller can be heard saying: "Stop, stop, stop, truck 1 stop, truck 1, stop."
The aircraft struck the fire vehicle at a speed of about 39km/h, according to the flight-tracking website Flightradar24.
Photos taken by Reuters after the accident showed visible damage to the nose of the plane, which was tilted upward.
Airport reopens after hundreds of flights cancelled
The US National Transportation Safety Board said it was deploying a team of experts to investigate the incident, while Canada's Transportation Safety Board said it would also send a team to support the investigation.
Air Canada, the country's largest carrier, said its teams and those from Jazz Aviation are also heading to the site.
LaGuardia Airport announced it had reopened on Tuesday, after the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said the airport would remain shut until 2pm ET on Monday (5am Tuesday AEDT).
More than 500 flights had been cancelled at the airport, according to tracking website FlightAware.
The FAA recorded 97 runway incursions in January this year, compared with 133 in the same period last year.
A bipartisan group of US House politicians last month proposed legislation to address 50 aviation safety recommendations issued after a year-long investigation into the January 2025 collision between an American Airlines regional jet and a US Army Black Hawk helicopter that killed 67 people.
Last year also saw a UPS cargo plane crash shortly after takeoff in Louisville, Kentucky, killing seven and injuring 11 on the ground.
Canadian transport minister Steve MacKinnon said the country's government was working closely with U.S. authorities "as they investigate this incident, and we are following developments closely".
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