LaGuardia flight cancellations, delays grow after Air Canada plane crashes
Travelers in Atlanta and New Orleans have been frustrated by long waits at TSA security checkpoints during the partial government shutdown, as spring break travel peaks. (WAGA, WVUE)
Flight cancellations and delays are on the rise at LaGuardia Airport in New York City after an Air Canada Express flight collided with a fire truck during arrival late Sunday night.
At least 295 flights from LaGuardia were canceled as of 10:30 a.m. ET Monday, and 15 were delayed, according to data from flight-tracking website FlightAware.
The tracker also showed at least 288 LaGuardia-bound flights canceled as of 10:30 a.m. ET Monday, and 19 were delayed, according to FlightAware.
FlightAware statistics show that between LaGuardia’s scheduled arrivals and departures, 582 flights have been canceled and 34 delayed.
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Debris hangs from the damaged Air Canada Express plane that collided with a car on the ground at New York’s LaGuardia Airport in Queens, New York on March 23, 2026. (Shannon Stapleton/Reuters)
The Air Canada Express CRJ-900, operated by partner airline Jazz Aviation, was carrying 72 passengers and four crew members and arrived from Montreal. It was designated as Flight 4686 and the collision crushed the nose of the plane.
Both the pilot and first officer were killed, according to Jazz and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and multiple injuries were reported.
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People sit in Terminal B of LaGuardia Airport, after an Air Canada Express flight collided with a car on the ground, in Queens, New York on March 23, 2026. (Shannon Stapleton/Reuters)
Kathryn Garcia, executive director of the Port Authority, said 32 of the 41 injured have been released, while nine remain hospitalized with “serious injuries.”
Garcia said the fire truck was responding to a separate United Airlines flight that had declared an emergency when it “reported an odor problem.”
Air traffic control audio indicated that the fire truck was allowed to cross Runway 4, on taxiway “Delta,” before controllers attempted to stop the fire truck.
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Stranded travelers lie on the ground as their flights are canceled after an Air Canada Express flight collided with a car on the ground at New York’s LaGuardia Airport in Queens, New York, on March 23, 2026. (Bing Guan/Reuters)
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said it would send a team of experts to investigate the incident, and the Federal Aviation Administration said the airport was expected to be closed until 2pm ET.
LaGuardia is one of the busiest airports in the country. It will serve more than 30 million passengers by 2025, according to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which has a variety of airlines operating at the airport.
A screen at Ronald Reagan National Airport shows canceled flights to New York’s LaGuardia Airport after an Air Canada Express flight collided with a car on the ground there, in Arlington, Virginia, on March 23, 2026. (Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)
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The flight disruption caused by the LaGuardia incident comes amid travel disruptions caused by the weeks-long partial government shutdown of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), which has led to increased absenteeism from airport security screening lines.
Reuters contributed to this report.
