New York airport runway reopens
The runway where two pilots died in a collision between a jet and a fire truck reopened Thursday morning at New York’s LaGuardia Airport, which had been operating at limited capacity all week as investigators examined the wreckage and work crews cleaned up debris.
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said the tarmac resumed operations at around 10 a.m. after the runway and its associated infrastructure were “repaired, inspected, and confirmed” to meet Federal Aviation Administration regulations for safe operation.
The agency, which oversees the region’s airports, said reopening the second of two runways at LaGuardia, one of the busiest airports in the nation, will help “restore full operational capacity,” though it advised travelers to still check with their airline for flight status.
LaGuardia continues to register the most delays and cancellations among airports in the country with more than 300 canceled in the last 24 hours, according to Flight Aware, a flight tracking website.
The bodies of the two Air Canada pilots, meanwhile, were being repatriated to Canada.
The remains of the first officer, Mackenzie Gunther, arrived Thursday at Ottawa International Airport. Capt. Antoine Forest’s body was being flow to Montréal Trudeau International Airport, according to The Air Line Pilots Association.
The association said the deaths of the two young aviators have shaken up the industry. Forest’s death has sparked an outpouring of sympathy in his hometown of Coteau-du-Lac, Quebec, southwest of Montreal. Gunther, 30, and Forest, 24, died when their Air Canada plane collided with a firetruck after landing at the airport.
