The Guardian
Oliver Holmes and Agencies
23 Mar 2026
Nine people hospitalised and airport closed after landing plane hits fire truck responding to separate incident
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.
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 and reported having two employees hurt while they travelled in the fire truck.
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.
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.
