By Mackenzie Tatananni, Liz Moyer, and Callum Keown
New York's LaGuardia Airport shuttered Monday following a fatal crash, while a ground stop was issued at a New Jersey airport after a control tower was evacuated. The incidents compounded the weekend's travel complications as passengers faced hourslong wait times at airports across the country.
LaGuardia airport will be closed until at least 2 p.m. Monday after a collision between an Air Canada Express flight operated by Jazz Aviation and a Port Authority vehicle on the runway.
The aircraft rescue and firefighting vehicle was responding to a separate incident when it was struck. The two pilots have died, Port Authority Executive Director Kathryn Garcia confirmed, while 41 people were taken to the hospital. Of those, 32 have been released.
Separately at New Jersey's Newark Liberty Airport, the Federal Aviation Administration ordered a ground stop around 7.30 a.m. Eastern on Monday.
Air-traffic controllers were forced to evacuate a tower due to "a burning smell coming from an elevator." While the order has been lifted, travelers can expect delays of 15 minutes or more, per an active FAA alert.
Staffing shortages among Transport Security Administration officers have posed another challenge, spurring hourslong waits at airports across the country.
Hundreds of employees have either called out or resigned according to the TSA, which functions as a subagency under the Department of Homeland Security.
Around 50,000 staffers have been working without pay as a partial government shutdown stretches into its second month. Workers missed their first full paychecks last week.
In a social media post Saturday, Tesla CEO Elon Musk offered to pay the salaries of TSA personnel "during this funding impasse that is negatively affecting the lives of so many Americans at airports throughout the country."
It's unclear whether there is a legal framework for Musk, the world's richest man, to pay government salaries. Musk was separately found liable for defrauding Twitter shareholders in a court ruling Friday.
"Let him do that," President Donald Trump told reporters on Monday when probed about Musk's offer. Trump has pledged to send Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to assist understaffed TSA agents starting this week.
Travelers are desperate for relief, as indicated by hundreds of social media posts over the weekend. Spring break travelers faced an extra dose of frustration as airport security lines snaked on for hours.
As of Monday, there was no resolution in sight. Passengers at international airports in Houston, Atlanta, and New Orleans faced wait times of over two hours, according to data from QSensor, a real-time tracking platform.
The disruptions weren't affecting airline stocks, which actually rose on Monday following positive developments in the Middle East. United Airlines and American Airlines each gained more than 5%, while Southwest Airlines and Delta Air Lines rose 4.3% and 4.1%, respectively.
It remains to be seen whether deploying ICE agents to airports will provide relief or complicate matters further. White House "border czar" Tom Homan has suggested ICE agents have the necessary training to act as a force multiplier, while Transportation Secreatry Sean Duffy similarly asserted that agents have the know-how to pat people down and operate X-ray machines.
The TSA's exclusive union representative has pushed back on these claims. Everett Kelley, the national president of the American Federation of Government Employees, noted Sunday that ICE agents aren't trained or certified in aviation security, something that TSA officers spend months learning.
"Putting untrained personnel at security checkpoints does not fill a gap. It creates one," Kelley added.
Trump took credit for the decision during media availability on Monday, likening it to the invention of the paper clip. "It was so simple, and everybody that looked at it said, 'Why didn't I think of that?' ICE was my idea," Trump said.
Other politicians were less enthusiastic. The decision to deploy ICE agents at airports has faced pushback from politicians on both sides of the aisle. Several Democrats, including House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries have decried the plan.
Rep. Kevin Kiley, a California lawmaker who recently switched his party designation to Independent from Republican, described the move as "a very temporary and not ideal solution" in an interview with CNN on Sunday.
Still, Kiley acknowledged the challenges facing travelers. "Anything we can do to make travel a little more seamless right now I think is fine," he said.
As the chaos continues to unfold, some travelers are getting a break. Twenty airports including San Francisco International Airport, Orlando Sanford International Airport, and Kansas City International Airport use private security to process travelers through the TSA's Screening Partnership Program.
These private contractors run screening operations under federal oversight and must comply with all TSA security screening procedures, the program's website says.
Write to Mackenzie Tatananni at mackenzie.tatananni@barrons.com, Liz Moyer at liz.moyer@barrons.com, and Callum Keown at callum.keown@dowjones.com
This content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
March 23, 2026 11:53 ET (15:53 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2026 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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