U.S. air system under strain

Air Canada confirmed the flight as AC8646 — a Jazz Aviation CRJ‑900 from Montréal that touched down around 11:38–11:47 p.m. ET on March 22, 2026 with 72 passengers and four crew; two pilots were killed and 39 people from the aircraft plus two Port Authority firefighting personnel were taken to hospitals. (aircanada.com)) LaGuardia remained closed into the following morning and then reopened at reduced capacity, Port Authority Executive Director Kathryn Garcia said, adding that 32 people had been released from hospitals while others remained seriously injured. (abcnews.com)) The National Transportation Safety Board said it launched a go team to investigate the March 22 collision and has begun recovering onboard recorders and gathering runway and vehicle‑response data. (aerotime.aero)) About 50,000 TSA screening officers have been working without pay since Department of Homeland Security funding lapsed on Feb. 14, 2026, and DHS reported that more than 400 TSA officers have quit the agency since the shutdown began. (cbsnews.com)) Internal DHS figures and reporting show daily TSA absence rates climbed to roughly 10% overall this week, with isolated single‑day call‑out spikes above 50% at airports such as Houston on specific dates. (usnews.com)) Homeland Security officials said they began deploying "hundreds" of ICE officers to assist at 14 airports nationwide; the announced deployment list did not include Bay Area airports such as SFO or OAK. (usnews.com)) Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy warned small airports could be forced to shut if the funding lapse continues, while industry forecasts anticipate about 171 million passengers over the spring travel period — a volume that raises the risk of cascading delays across the system. (usnews.com))