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If you were glued to flight trackers (or stuck in an airport terminal) over the past 24 hours, you’re probably wondering the same thing: Is LaGuardia still shut down? The short answer is no—but things are far from back to normal.
LaGuardia Airport officially reopened around 2 pm on Monday after a deadly overnight collision between an Air Canada Express jet and a Port Authority fire truck forced a full shutdown. The crash, which happened just before midnight Sunday, killed both pilots and injured dozens of passengers and emergency personnel.
One of LaGuardia’s main runways, where the collision took place, remains closed and is expected to stay that way for several days, potentially until Friday morning. That means fewer flights can take off and land, which is already causing a ripple effect across schedules.
As of Tuesday morning, delays continue to pile up. Departures have been running nearly three hours behind on average, according to the FAA, and passengers are being warned to expect continued cancellations and disruptions. Inside the terminal, security lines have stretched to two hours or more, thanks in part to a nationwide TSA staffing shortage stemming from the ongoing government shutdown.
The situation is especially messy because the crash itself is still under active investigation. Federal officials, including the National Transportation Safety Board, are working through what they’ve described as a “tremendous amount of debris” on the runway, which needs to be documented before anything can fully reopen. Early reporting suggests air traffic control communications and a separate aircraft issue involving another flight may have played a role, but nothing has been confirmed yet.
All of this is unfolding at one of the busiest airports in the region, which means that even a partial slowdown has outsized effects—especially when layered on top of broader national travel issues.
So, should you head to LaGuardia today if you have a flight? You can. Flights are taking off. But if you’re expecting a smooth, on-time experience, you might want to adjust those expectations—or at least build in a generous buffer and a lot of patience.