Updated
An Air Canada Express regional jet collided with a Port Authority fire truck at New York’s LaGuardia Airport, killing the plane’s two pilots and shutting down all flights at the airport, officials said Monday.
Forty-one passengers and crew members were taken to the hospital, Kathryn Garcia, the executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, said at an early morning news conference. She said that 32 of them had been released, and that some of the others had been seriously injured.
The airport will be closed until 2 p.m. Eastern time on Monday, the Federal Aviation Administration said, disrupting operations at one of the United States’ busiest domestic airports. The F.A.A. first issued a ground stop at LaGuardia early Monday as emergency crews swarmed the damaged jet on a runway.
A New York Times journalist at the airport early Monday saw police vehicles and fire trucks next to a white Air Canada Express plane with a sheared-off nose on the runway. A damaged truck lay on its side nearby.
The disruption quickly rippled across the region’s travel system. More than 400 flights were canceled early Monday, and New York City officials warned of road closures and traffic delays around the airport, urging drivers to avoid the area.
LaGuardia, one of three major airports serving the New York City area, is a critical hub for the busy Northeast corridor. It sees nearly 900 departures and arrivals each day, according to January data from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which owns and operates the airport.
The disruption came a day after travelers at LaGuardia endured hourslong security lines tied to a nationwide shortage of Transportation Security Administration workers, compounding delays at an airport already under strain.
The T.S.A. crisis, tied to a partial government shutdown, has resulted in thousands of employees working without pay.
Air Canada said in a statement that it was “aware of an incident” involving Air Canada Express Flight 8646 from Montreal to New York that was operated by Jazz Aviation LP. In a separate statement, Jazz Aviation said that a preliminary passenger list indicated that the flight was carrying 72 passengers and four crew members.
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