LaGuardia Airport is up and running at reduced capacity after an Air Canada plane struck a Port Authority vehicle late Sunday night, prompting the major airport to shut down, authorities said.
It is the first fatal crash at LaGuardia in more than three decades, officials said.
Air Canada Flight 8646 had been traveling from Montreal when it collided with a Port Authority aircraft rescue and firefighting vehicle on Sunday around 11:45 p.m., authorities said. The plane was carrying 72 passengers and four crew members. Two pilots died in the crash, while dozens of passengers and crew members were taken to local hospitals.
Sunday’s crash is the first fatal incident at LaGuardia in 34 years, according to Port Authority Executive Director Kathryn Garcia, who said many of those hospitalized had already been released.
LaGuardia reopened for passengers at 5:30 a.m., with its first departing flight leaving just after 2 p.m. Monday, Garcia said at a news conference alongside other officials.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said officials would share limited information as the National Transportation Safety Board investigates the crash.
“There’s some information that we hold back that the NTSB has so that we allow them to do the investigation, and it takes months — sometimes up to a year — before we get the findings from that investigation,” Duffy said.
He said federal agencies, as well as the Canadian government, were on the scene and working together.
Officials also said the fire and rescue crew had been responding to an aborted takeoff involving a United Airlines aircraft when the collision occurred.
Two crew members in the Port Authority vehicle were transported to NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital. One was expected to be released later Monday, while the other will remain overnight for observation, Garcia said.
A damaged Port Authority fire truck sits near the runway after colliding with an Air Canada Express CRJ-900 at LaGuardia Airport in New York, on March 23, 2026.
TIMOTHY A. CLARY / AFP via Getty Images
According to audio from the incident posted online, a tower controller initially appears to tell the Port Authority vehicle to cross the runway, but then quickly changes the directive.
“Stop, stop, stop, stop, Truck One, stop, stop, stop,” the controller says in the recording.
After that, the controller begins coordinating an emergency response, according to the audio.
The shutdown added to travel disruptions across the region, as travelers were already facing long security lines tied to a partial federal government shutdown affecting the Transportation Security Administration.
Some TSA workers have been calling out of work, contributing to staffing shortages and delays, according to federal officials.
“Let’s acknowledge the tremendous stress, particularly in recent days, that our airline workers are under,” Gov. Kathy Hochul said at the press conference. “As we come through here, know that this is an ecosystem that is not self-sustaining.”
Federal agents, including immigration authorities, were also seen at LaGuardia and John F. Kennedy International Airport on Monday, as previously reported by Gothamist.
This is a developing story and may be updated.
