"Very Sombre Day": Air Canada CEO's First Statement After Plane Crash

Air Canada President and CEO, Michael Rousseau, mourned the loss of two pilots in a tragic plane crash on Sunday and expressed "deepest sorrow for everyone affected." In a video statement released hours after an Air Canada Express passenger plane collided with a fire truck on a LaGuardia Airport runway, Rousseau said he knows that people have a lot of questions, "but at this early stage, we do not have all the answers, as the circumstances are still being assessed."

Describing it as a "very sombre day", Rousseau said the aircraft was operated by Jazz Aviation LP, which operates flights on behalf of Air Canada.

"The event happened at LaGuardia Airport, after Air Canada flight AC-8646, operated by Jazz Aviation, a CRJ-900 aircraft travelling from Montreal to New York, had landed. Flight AC-8646 was carrying 72 passengers and four crew members, for a total of 76 people on board," he added.

The CEO said the efforts are focused on the needs of its passengers and crew members, along with their families and loves ones.

"We now know that the captain and the first officer were killed in this accident. We are deeply saddened by the loss of two Jazz employees, and our deepest condolences go out to the entire Jazz community and their families. We are working with the authorities to confirm the number of injuries, and if there are any other fatalities, he added.

Air Canada President and CEO Michael Rousseau provides a video statement on the tragic accident involving Air Canada Express AC8646: pic.twitter.com/ZwFibpOkj2

— Air Canada (@AirCanada) March 23, 2026

Rousseau assured that Air Canada is actively working with all relevant authorities on emergency response efforts along with supporting investigation. The Air Canada Special Assistance Team has been activated to assist customers and their families, he shared.

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He shared the helpline number "1-800-961-7099" for people who had friends and family on board and urged to rely on official updates shared on Air Canada's website and official social media channels.

"Our team of highly trained professionals will work around the clock to support our customers, their families, and our crew and their families in every way we can, and we'll update you regularly as soon as information becomes available. Thank you," he concluded.

What We Know About Air Canada Plane Crash

The incident reportedly occurred at around 11:30 pm (local time) on March 22 at LaGuardia Airport (LGA) in the Queens borough of New York City when an Air Canada flight AC-8646, arriving from Montreal, hit a fire engine from the Port Authority Police Department as the truck crossed its path on Runway 4.

According to flight tracking platform FlightRadar24, the aircraft was travelling at roughly 24 miles per hour (39 kph) at the time of the incident.

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Audio recordings from the air traffic tower show that a controller had cleared the truck, which was responding to a separate incident, to cross the runway before urgently ordering it to halt.

The transcript reads:

"Frontier 4195, stop there, please. (Pause.) Stop, stop, stop, truck one, stop, stop, stop. Stop, truck one, stop! Stop, truck one, stop."

An alarm then sounds.

"Jazz 646. Jazz 646, I see you collided with a vehicle. (Inaudible) Hold position. I know he can't move. Vehicles are responding to you now."

Shortly after, a second controller can be heard saying, "Man, that wasn't good to watch."

The first controller replied, "Yeah, I know. I was here. I tried to reach out to my staff. And we were dealing with an emergency earlier. I messed up."

Passenger Thanks Pilots For Saving Life

Narrating the Air Canada plane crash, Rebecca Liquori, a passenger said the plane hit turbulence while descending, and she then felt it brake hard and heard a loud boom.

"Everybody just jolted out of their seats. People hit their heads. People were bleeding," Liquori told News12 Long Island, a station where she once worked.

Liquori said passengers helped each other slide down a wing.

"I'm just happy to be alive," said Liquori, who had gone to Montreal for a cousin's baby shower. "I would have never pictured a one-hour flight that I've done countless times ... ending like this."

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Passenger Clement Lelievre credited the pilots' "incredible reflexes" with saving his life and others'. The pilots braked extremely hard just as the plane touched down, he said.