The pilot and co-pilot of an Air Canada Express regional jet have been killed after it collided with a fire truck while landing at New York’s LaGuardia airport, in an incident that closed the airport for several hours.
The collision also caused serious injuries, with nine people in the hospital. It happened as a firefighting vehicle was responding to a separate incident, according to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which runs the airport.
The Air Canada Express CRJ-900 plane, operated by its partner Jazz Aviation, was carrying 72 passengers and four crew members, according to an airline statement. The flight originated at Montréal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau international airport, the major airport serving Montreal. Jazz is owned by Chorus Aviation.
“They made a mistake; it’s a dangerous business,” Donald Trump, the US president, told reporters in response to the incident. “That’s terrible.”
Mark Carney, Canada’s prime minister, said the collision was “deeply saddening”.
In the moments before the crash, an air traffic controller could be heard on a radio transmission giving clearance to a vehicle to cross part of the runway, then trying to stop it.
“Stop, Truck 1. Stop,” the transmission says. The controller can then be heard quickly diverting incoming aircraft from landing. Following the collision, audio released by LiveATC appears to show air traffic controllers discuss the incident.
One controller said the impact “wasn’t good to watch”. Another responded: “Yeah, I know I was here. I tried to reach out … We were dealing with an emergency earlier. I messed up.”
“Nah, man, you did the best you could,” the other controller says in the recording.
Sean Duffy, the US transportation secretary, said in a statement on Monday morning that “our prayers this morning are with the families impacted by the ground collision at LaGuardia”, and that the FAA was deploying a team to the site to support the investigation. Officials will look at whether air traffic control staffing levels were an issue in the deadly crash, too.
Duffy said the collision occurred at about 11.45pm ET and that of the “72 Air Canada Express passengers and 4 crew members, over a dozen are injured”. He confirmed that “both pilots of the aircraft have passed away” and said that two firefighters “sustained serious injuries”.
Kathryn Garcia, the port authority executive director, said at a news conference that the pilot and co-pilot were both based out of Canada.
“The loss of our two fellow crewmembers onboard Flight 8646 is a profound tragedy,” said Jason Ambrosi, president of the Air Line Pilots Association, the largest airline pilot union in the world.
“These pilots dedicated their careers to the safe transport of passengers, and we are all thinking of their families, loved ones, and colleagues at Jazz Aviation during this devastating time.”
The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the accident site. LaGuardia reopened at 2pm ET and the airport told passengers to expect delays and or cancellations.
“Plan ahead and check with your airline for the latest updates,” the airport said.
Photos showed significant damage to the nose of the plane, which was tilted upward. Stairways used to evacuate passengers from aircraft were pushed up to the emergency exits on the jet.
A photo of the fire vehicle showed it had tipped on to its side. NBC News had earlier said a sergeant and an officer had broken limbs and were in stable condition at a hospital.
The truck had been responding to a United Airlines flight, which had declared an emergency due to an odour reported onboard. Controllers told the aircraft that fire trucks were available on site.
With LaGuardia airport closed, Flightradar24 said 18 flights had been diverted to other airports, mostly in the New York area, or returned to their point of origin.
Arturo Davidson told the Associated Press that his Miami-bound flight was on the tarmac on Sunday night when fellow passengers saw the collision or its aftermath – and reactions rippled through the cabin.
The passengers were soon told there had been an accident. About 20 minutes later, they were informed the airport was closing and they must return to the terminal, he said later on Monday, gazing at a departure board filled with cancellations.
“I don’t think we’re going at 2pm,” he said, referring to the time on Monday afternoon that officials gave as the earliest for reopening LaGuardia.
Air Canada referred a request for comment to Jazz’s statement and said it was aware of the incident. The National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
New York City’s emergency notification system said people could expect cancellations, road closures, traffic delays and emergency personnel near the airport.
A 2025 FAA database showed that LaGuardia was 19th busiest in 2024 out of more than 500 US airports, with more than 16.7 million passengers boarding there.
A ground stop was also put into place on Monday morning at Newark Liberty international airport in New Jersey. ABC News reported that an air traffic control tower was evacuated due to reports of smoke. Separate reports indicated that a bus had caught on fire on the New Jersey Turnpike expressway near the airport and was sending smoke billowing into the air.
Flight delays there subsequently mounted, with some exceeding an hour, as CNN transportation reporter Pete Muntean reported.
The Associated Press contributed reporting
