Royal Jordanian Airlines has suffered a major loss, after its crew was involved in a serious vehicle accident in New York, on their way to the crew hotel on a layover. There’s often the saying that the most dangerous part of flying is getting to and from the airport, and this is a somber reminder of that reality.
At least two killed in Royal Jordanian crew bus accident
At around 11:45PM on Monday, June 29, 2026, two people were killed and dozens of people were injured when a bus overturned and crossed into oncoming traffic on the Long Island Expressway.
OMAAT obviously isn’t about traffic accidents, but the noteworthy detail here is that the primary vehicle involved was a crew bus, which was carrying the Royal Jordanian crew that had just operated flight RJ8261, from Amman (AMM) to New York (JFK). The flight landed at around 9:45PM, the crew cleared immigration and picked up their bags, and then they were heading to the hotel.
While traveling westbound on the Long Island Expressway, the bus first collided with two vehicles traveling in the same direction, before impacting the center divider. The bus then overturned into eastbound lanes, and crashed into additional vehicles.
The 35-year-old driver of the bus, as well as one of the passengers on the bus (believed to be a Royal Jordanian crew member) were pronounced dead. Dozens of people, including all the Royal Jordanian crew members, were taken to the hospital. While most have minor injuries, at least one other person involved in the accident is in critical condition.
This accident shut down both directions of the Long Island Express for around 10 hours, so had major traffic implications (though that pales in comparison to the loss of life).
Obviously this is incredibly tragic — my thoughts are with those involves in this accident and their families, because this is just absolutely awful. May the people who lost their lives rest in peace, and I hope the others all make a quick recovery.
The driver of the crew bus had quite the record
The cause of the accident is still being investigated, so it’s not 100% clear how this accident happened. However, the bus driver didn’t have a particularly clean record. It’s reported that he had seven prior arrests, including for burglary, sexual abuse, and forcible touching, and he was a registered sex offender.
While he had a valid driver’s license, he had seven moving violations, although none in his capacity as a professional driver. The moving violations were for speeding, for disobeying a traffic control device, and for dangerous driving.
Admittedly being a sex offender doesn’t make one a bad driver, and I’m all for giving people chances. However, between the driving violations and his criminal history, this definitely doesn’t strike me as the most professional driving service one could imagine.
Bottom line
There was a major accident on the Long Island Express in New York on Monday night, involving a van. That van happened to be a bus carrying Royal Jordanian’s crew, which had just flown from Amman to New York Kennedy. The bus ended up colliding with oncoming traffic, leading to two fatalities, including among one of the passengers (believed to be a crew member).
My thoughts are with the family of the people who lost their lives… how sad. It’s a good reminder of how getting to and from the airport is much riskier than actually flying on a commercial aircraft.
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