National Airport expects weeklong runway closures following crash

Officials confirmed two of three runways at Reagan Washington National Airport will remain closed over the next few days after Wednesday's deadly plane collision.

“As we know the airport is open and operating. We are in a reduced capacity and reduced arrival rate due to the proximity of the recovery site, we do have two of our three runways that are closed,” Terrence Liercke, vice president and airport manager of National Airport, told reporters at a Friday press briefing.

The runways have been shut down due to an ongoing search mission in the Potomac River, which aims to recover the bodies of the deceased passengers onboard the regional passenger jet and military helicopter that collided midair late Wednesday evening.

“If an aircraft were to take off or land over the aircraft recovery site right now those would be impactful to the operation and so we would like to keep those [runways] closed,” Liercke stated.

“It’s a dynamic situation, we’ve worked with the [Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)], I think what we’ve communicated as our expectation is a week [closure] and we will reassess on Monday and as recovery efforts go," he continued. "It’s a fluid situation.”

He noted that about 100 Friday flights were canceled and urged passengers to check the status of future travel with their airlines.

Washington fire chief John Donnelly shared that local response teams are hoping to recover the bodies of every individual involved in the crash.

“We have recovered 41 sets of the remains and 28 of those victims have been positively identified, and as of 6:00 a.m. this morning next of kin notifications have been made to 18 families,” Donnelly said at the news conference.

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