LaGuardia flight cancellations, delays grow after Air Canada plane collision

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Flight cancellations and delays are increasing at New York City’s LaGuardia Airport after an Air Canada Express flight collided with a fire truck while landing late Sunday night.

At least 295 flights departing from LaGuardia were canceled as of 10:30 a.m. ET on Monday, while 15 were delayed, according to data from flight tracking website FlightAware.

The tracker also showed at least 288 flights headed to LaGuardia were canceled as of 10:30 a.m. ET on Monday, and 19 were delayed, according to FlightAware.

FlightAware’s figures show that between LaGuardia’s scheduled arrivals and departures, a total of 582 flights have been canceled and 34 delayed.

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Debris hangs from a damaged Air Canada Express jet that had collided with a ground vehicle at New York’s LaGuardia Airport in Queens, New York on March 23, 2026. (Shannon Stapleton/Reuters)

The Air Canada Express CRJ-900 jet, operated by the airline’s regional partner 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 airliner.

Both the pilot and first officer were killed, according to Jazz and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, while dozens of injuries were reported.

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People sit at Terminal B of LaGuardia Airport, after an Air Canada Express jet collided with a ground vehicle, 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 had been released, while nine remained in the hospital with “serious injuries.”

Garcia said the fire truck was responding to a separate United Airlines aircraft that had declared an emergency when it “reported an issue with odor.”

Air traffic control audio indicated that the fire truck was cleared to cross Runway 4, at taxiway “Delta,” before controllers frantically tried to get the fire truck to stop. 

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Stranded travelers sleep on the ground as their flights were cancelled after an Air Canada Express jet collided with a ground vehicle 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 was deploying a team of experts to investigate the incident, while the Federal Aviation Administration said the airport was expected to remain closed until 2 p.m. ET.

LaGuardia is one of the busiest airports in the country. It served over 30 million annual passengers in 2025, according to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, with a wide range of airlines operating at the airport.

A screen at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport shows canceled flights to New York’s LaGuardia Airport after an Air Canada Express jet collided with a ground vehicle there, in Arlington, Virginia, on March 23, 2026. (Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)

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The flight disruptions stemming from the incident at LaGuardia come amid travel disruptions caused by the weeks-long partial government shutdown of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), which has led to a rise in absences among workers at airport security screening lines.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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