LaGuardia Airport’s runway reopened Thursday morning at about 10 a.m., the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said, following a deadly collision on the tarmac that killed two Canadian pilots. The reopening came after airport operations had been constrained for much of the week as investigators examined the wreckage and crews worked to clear debris.
The Port Authority said the tarmac resumed operations after the runway and related infrastructure were “repaired, inspected, and confirmed” to meet Federal Aviation Administration requirements for safe operation. It said reopening the second of LaGuardia’s two runways would help “restore full operational capacity,” while advising travelers to still check directly with their airlines for flight status.
The crash had occurred late Sunday night, when an Air Canada regional jet arriving from Montreal struck an airport fire truck after landing, according to the Port Authority and the National Transportation Safety Board’s ongoing investigation. Investigators said the fire truck had initially been cleared to cross the runway to respond to a separate incident involving another plane.
The two pilots who died were Capt. Antoine Forest and First Officer Mackenzie Gunther. Gunther, 30, and Forest, 24, were on the Air Canada flight, and their deaths were reported as part of the response to the crash on LaGuardia’s tarmac.
As crews cleared the site, Air Canada said it planned to place the destroyed aircraft in a hangar and begin work to reunite passengers with their baggage and personal belongings. Meanwhile, the bodies of the two pilots were being repatriated to Canada.
Air Canada’s Montreal headquarters and nearby groups were among places where pilots and flight staff gathered to honor Forest. Capt. Tim Perry, president of the Air Line Pilots Association Canada, said the pilot community was mourning the two young aviators, adding, “No family should go through this,” according to the report.
The National Transportation Safety Board continued to investigate after the destroyed aircraft and the fire truck were towed from the crash area late Wednesday. The Port Authority also said Thursday that the truck had been placed in an undisclosed, secure location, and it deferred questions about the plane’s status to Air Canada, which did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
In the days following the crash, LaGuardia remained one of the airports with the most disruptions. FlightAware, a flight tracking site, reported the airport had more than 300 cancellations over the previous 24 hours.
In addition to operational impacts from the incident, Air Canada’s CEO, Michael Rousseau, issued an apology Thursday after facing calls to resign over an English-only message of condolence, and he also apologized for his inability to express himself in French, according to the report.