MAPPED: How the Air Canada plane crash caused chaos for East Coast travelers

Air Canada Express Flight 8646 collided with a firefighting truck at LaGuardia Airport on Monday. Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images 2026-03-24T14:12:14.366Z Share Copy link Email Facebook WhatsApp X LinkedIn Bluesky Threads lighning bolt icon An icon in the shape of a lightning bolt.

Impact Link Save Saved Read in app This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. Become an Insider and start reading now. Have an account? Log in. LaGuardia Airport was closed for hours after an Air Canada plane crashed on Monday. More than 600 flights were canceled affecting thousands of travelers at 74 other airports. Some flights also turned around and returned to their origin. AI-generated summary Summaries are generated by an AI model trained on Business Insider's articles. AI may make mistakes or provide inaccurate/incomplete information. We're unable to load that answer right now. Please try again. How common are airport runway collisions? How do airport closures impact airlines? How do airports handle emergency diversions? What safety measures can prevent runway accidents? What are the busiest times at LaGuardia? More than 600 flights were canceled after an airplane crash at New York's LaGuardia Airport on Monday. Loading audio narration... A Business Insider analysis of Flightradar24 data showed how the incident affected thousands of passengers at 74 other airports in the US, Canada, and the Bahamas.We created a map showing the scale of the disruption at a time when travelers also face long lines due to TSA staffing shortages. LaGuardia saw nearly 33 million passengers last year. While smaller than nearby JFK and Newark Liberty, it's still one of the country's busiest airports.It primarily serves domestic routes as well as some short-haul international ones. The map shows the range of Monday's intended routes — as far west as Denver, as far north as Bangor, Maine, and as far south as Key West.Chicago O'Hare Airport faced the most disruption, as it had 39 flights to or from LaGuardia that were canceled. It was followed by Boston Logan's 30 such cancellations and Toronto Pearson's 28.The data do not include 18 flights bound for LaGuardia that diverted elsewhere. While 10 of these landed nearby, others were forced to return to their original locations.For example, an Air Canada flight U-turned over Poughkeepsie, in the Hudson Valley, before returning to Toronto. LaGuardia Airport reopened with limited flights around 2 p.m. Monday, some 14 hours after the collision.Air Canada Express Flight 8646, from Montreal, had just touched down when an airport firefighting truck began crossing the runway. Both pilots of the CRJ900 were killed, while dozens of passengers were taken to the hospital.The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the incident, assisted by the Transportation Safety Board of Canada.