National

FAA to equip its airport vehicles with transponders

By Reuters Reuters
FILE PHOTO: Personnel of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) inspect the wreckage of a fire truck after it collided with an Air Canada Express jet at New York's LaGuardia Airport in Queens, New York, U.S., March 23, 2026. REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz/File photo
FILE PHOTO: Personnel of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) inspect the wreckage of a fire truck after it collided with an Air Canada Express jet at New York's LaGuardia Airport in Queens, New York, U.S., March 23, 2026. REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz/File photo Eduardo Munoz Reuters

WASHINGTON - The Federal Aviation Administration said Wednesday it will spend $16.5 million to install transponders on its airport vehicles after a fatal collision in March at New York's LaGuardia airport between an Air Canada Express jet and a fire truck.

The fire truck did not have a transponder but the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey has said it plans to install trasponders on all airfield vehicles. The FAA plans to immediately begin equipping its approximately 1,900 vehicles at 264 airports that have or will have surface awareness technology.

(Reporting by David Shepardson, Editing by Franklin Paul)

Copyright Reuters or USA Today Network via Reuters Connect.

This story was originally published May 13, 2026 at 3:03 PM.

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