Air Canada jet hits fire truck upon landing, closing New York's LaGuardia airport

By Gursimran Mehar and Bing Guan

NEW YORK, March 23 (Reuters) - An Air Canada AC.TO Express regional jet with about 76 people on board collided with a fire truck while landing at New York's LaGuardia airport late on Sunday, in an incident that closed the airport, authorities said.

NBC News reported that four people were injured in the incident, saying the fire truck was manned by police officers, citing sources. The report said the pilot and copilot of the aircraft were badly injured, while a sergeant and an officer had broken limbs and were in stable condition at a hospital.

The CRJ-900 plane, which was coming from Montreal, struck the vehicle at a speed of about 24 miles per hour (39 kph), said flight tracking website Flightradar24, which last recorded data at 11:37 p.m. ET (0337 GMT).

Photos taken by Reuters after the accident showed visible damage to the nose of the plane, which was tilted upward.

Authorities and emergency agencies did not offer any immediate comments on injuries.

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said the airport was expected to remain shut until 2 p.m. ET on Monday (1800 GMT). Flightradar24 said 18 flights had been diverted to other airports, mostly in the New York area, or returned to their point of origin.

The plane involved in the accident was operated by Air Canada's regional partner Jazz, which is owned by Chorus Aviation CHR.TO.

Jazz said the aircraft was carrying 72 passengers and four crew members based on a preliminary passenger list that remained subject to confirmation.

Air Canada referred Reuters to Jazz's statement and said it was aware of the incident. The National Transportation Safety Board and the FAA did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said the firefighting vehicle was responding to a separate incident when it was struck by the aircraft at the airport's Runway 4.

New York City's emergency notification system said people could expect cancellations, road closures, traffic delays and emergency personnel near the airport.

LaGuardia served over 30 million annual passengers in 2025, according to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and a wide range of U.S. airlines operate at the airport.