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Fox will stream Super Bowl 59 on its free, ad-supported service Tubi on Sunday.
This is the first time the Super Bowl will be featured on a platform like Tubi.
The streamer could get a boost from the big game, and the Super Bowl’s viewership may grow, too.
Fox has steered clear of investing big money in subscription-based streaming services like its peers.

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The last time Fox Corp. aired the Super Bowl, it featured buzzy commercials about its streaming service, Tubi.
This year, the broadcaster is taking a bigger leap with the free, ad-supported streamer. It’s offering football’s biggest game on the service, too.

“This time it’s less about shocking viewers and more about being in our credibility era — being a streamer that has the chops to stream the Super Bowl,” said Nicole Parlapiano, Tubi’s chief marketing officer.
Tubi will offer the same feed of the Super Bowl as its broadcast parent, commercials and all. While Fox will still claim the bulk of the viewership, the Super Bowl on Tubi signals that the media parent is betting big on its streamer.
Tubi will host two feeds as the reigning champion Kansas City Chiefs take on the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday: the main Fox broadcast and the Spanish-language broadcast on Fox Deportes. In addition to the pregame show, there will also be a Tubi-exclusive red carpet show prior to the game for those sports lite fans who may be more interested in the celebrity sightings, halftime show and commercials.
The Tubi app, which is available on all streaming devices and televisions as well as mobile phones, has been in the middle of a so-called Super Bowl takeover since last week. Past Super Bowl games, halftime shows and other NFL-related content are now available to stream on the service.

What is Tubi?

Pavlo Gonchar | Lightrocket | Getty Images

Legacy media companies have been fighting to make their subscription-based streaming services profitable as consumers flee the traditional TV bundle. Many have used live sports, especially the NFL, to prop up their fledgling streaming services.

Fox has taken a different streaming approach with Tubi — until now.
The media giant acquired Tubi in 2020 for roughly $440 million.
While its competitors made similar acquisitions to build on their larger streaming plans — Paramount Global bought Pluto and Comcast Corp. snapped up Xumo — Fox stuck with Tubi as its primary streaming offering and has so far avoided launching its own subscription-based streamer.
“Tubi went from virtually nothing four years ago to a meaningful number for us,” said Fox Chief Financial Officer Steve Tomsic during the company’s earnings call with investors in November.
Unlike the major streaming platforms including Netflix, Warner Bros. Discovery’s Max or Disney’s Hulu or Disney+, services such as Tubi and Pluto are free offerings solely supported by advertising. The apps offer a guide of channels reminiscent of the traditional TV guide, as well as deep libraries of movies and TV series. Tubi also has original programming, although far less than the likes of Netflix, which spends billions on it. Streamers such as Tubi and Pluto rarely feature live sports.
Tubi’s viewership and revenue have been slowly gaining ground.
In 2022, Tubi’s revenue surpassed the advertising revenue generated by Fox Entertainment for the first time. The following year, Tubi for the first time earned a mention in “The Gauge,” Nielsen’s monthly snapshot of total TV and streaming viewership, not including mobile or desktop viewing. At the time, Nielsen announced Tubi had reached 1% of total TV viewing minutes. As of December, Tubi made up 1.7% of viewing minutes, according to Nielsen.
Tubi was also a source of revenue growth for Fox when the ad market was in a slump for traditional media companies. Fox has said Tubi has benefited from big moments, too, such as the recent election cycle.
The streamer recently reached 97 million monthly active viewers, and had more than 10 billion hours of streaming in 2024, said CMO Parlapiano. Tubi’s audience, 77% of which doesn’t have cable TV, skews toward millennials, Gen Z and females, with more than 34% between the ages 18 and 34.
There’s still room for Tubi to grow, CFO Tomsic said during the UBS Global Media and Communications conference in December.
“If you look at where the asset is, it’s still a bit of an unknown to many consumers, as well as sort of the professional ad buyers and the professional ad agency,” he said at the time.

Fox’s FAST approach

A Fox Sports TV camera operator during the week 5 NFL game between the Atlanta Falcons and the Carolina Panthers at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta on Oct. 11, 2020.
David J. Griffin | Icon Sportswire | Getty Images

While Tubi isn’t yet profitable, it hasn’t been the drain on Fox that subscription-based streaming services have been on its competitors.
Fox has focused its strategy on sports and news on traditional TV since offloading its entertainment assets to Disney in 2019. In addition to touting its highly rated programming on both fronts, executives often call out Tubi as a bright spot for the company’s growth.
“[Fox has] avoided the billions of dollars in losses that other media companies have invested building out their own streaming platforms,” said Robert Fishman, an analyst at MoffettNathanson, noting that live sports aren’t typically offered on FAST platforms, the industry jargon for free, ad-supported streaming.
Offering the Super Bowl on the streaming service gives it a chance to broaden its audience even further.
“The idea of using the biggest and most powerful sports event is of course going to bring attention to Tubi,” Fishman said.
Fox did try to broaden its streaming strategy for its sports portfolio when it teamed up with Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery to announce the Venu streaming venture. Venu was supposed to offer the full live sports portfolio of each of its owners until it was held up by a lawsuit. Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery and Fox recently announced they were abandoning their efforts to launch Venu.
“After Venu, Fox needs to help investors better understand how consumers are going to see their very high-quality sports assets in a streaming world,” Fishman said.
In recent quarters, Fox executives have highlighted that much of Tubi’s viewership comes from its on-demand programming rather than the curated channels. Fox reports its quarterly earnings on Tuesday.
While the Super Bowl may provide some momentum to Tubi, it’s likely a welcome addition for the NFL, too.
While the league has been wildly successful and media rights have ballooned, it has more recently leaned into streaming as the key to its future viewership and fandom.
Disclosure: Comcast owns CNBC parent company NBCUniversal. Comcast is a co-owner of Hulu.

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President Donald Trump’s steep tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China could worsen exist­ing drug short­ages in the U.S. and raise health-care costs for patients, some drug trade groups warn. 
They also said the import taxes could strain cash-strapped generic drugmakers and distributors.
Trump on Saturday announced he would impose a 25% tariff on nearly all goods shipped from Canada and Mexico and a 10% charge on imports from China.

Shana Novak | Stone | Getty Images

President Donald Trump’s steep tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China could worsen ex­ist­ing drug shortages in the U.S., raise health-care costs for patients and threaten cash-strapped generic drugmakers, some drug trade groups warn.
Trump on Saturday announced he would impose a 25% tariff on nearly all goods shipped from Canada and Mexico and a 10% charge on imports from China, all of which were set to take effect on Tuesday. On Monday, both Mexico and Canada said the tariffs would be paused for about a month.

Still, the proposed import taxes come as the U.S. grapples with an unprecedented shortfall of crucial medicine ranging from injectable cancer therapies to generics, or cheaper versions of brand-name medicines, which has forced hospitals and patients to ration drugs. It also comes as many Americans struggle to afford the high costs of prescription medications. 
The U.S. relies heavily on other countries for pharmaceutical products, especially for generic drugs. Those medications make up 90% of Americans’ prescriptions, so tariffs could potentially threaten many patients’ access to affordable treatments. 
China in particular is a large supplier of active pharmaceutical ingredients, or APIs, for both brand-name and generic drugs due to lower manufacturing costs in the country. APIs are the main component of a drug that causes the desired effect of the treatment. Some generic drugs are manufactured overseas entirely.  
The tariffs could “increase already problematic drug shortages” by forcing generic manufacturers out of the market due to low profit margins, according to a statement from John Murphy, CEO of the Association for Accessible Medicines, which represents generic pharmaceutical companies. 
“Generic manufacturers simply can’t absorb new costs,” Murphy said Sunday. “Our manufacturers sell at an extremely low price, sometimes at a loss, and are increasingly forced to exit markets where they are underwater.” 

He urged the Trump administration to exempt generic products from tariffs, adding that the overall value of all generic sales in the U.S. has decreased by $6.4 billion in five years despite “growth in volume” and new generic drug launches. 
The Healthcare Distribution Alliance, which represents 40 drug distributors, has also called for the Trump administration to reconsider including pharmaceutical products in tariffs. In a statement Sunday, the group said tariffs would strain the pharmaceutical supply chain and “could adversely affect American patients,” whether that is through increased medical product costs or manufacturers leaving the market. 
The group said the tariffs will put additional pressure on an industry already in financial distress, noting that distributors operate on low profit margins of just 0.3%.
The U.S. will likely see “new and worsened shortages of important medications,” and those costs will be “passed down to payers and patients, including those in the Medicare and Medicaid programs,” the Healthcare Distribution Alliance said. 
An estimate from The Budget Lab at Yale University said long-term prices of pharmaceutical products in the U.S. will be 1.1% higher after shifts in the supply chain. 
Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, which represents pharmaceutical companies, said in a statement that it shares Trump’s goal of ensuring the U.S. maintains its “global leadership in biopharmaceutical innovation and manufacturing.”
Trade measures should focus on “addressing unfair practices abroad and safeguarding our intellectual property,” the group added.

Medical devices

The U.S. also relies on overseas manufacturing for medical devices, with many key components and finished products being sourced from countries such as China, Mexico and India.
For example, Intuitive Surgical, which manufactures robotic surgical systems, disclosed in its annual report last week that a “significant majority” of the company’s instruments and accessories are manufactured in Mexicali, Mexico. 
Tariffs on the country would “increase the costs of our products manufactured in Mexico and adversely impact our gross profit,” the company said. 

More CNBC health coverage

AdvaMed, the largest medical device association globally, urged the Trump administration to exempt medical products from the tariffs. In a statement, the group said import taxes could lead to shortages of critical medical technologies, higher prices for patients and payers, and less investment in research and development. 
The tariffs and associated costs essentially function as “an excise tax in practice,” AdvaMed said, noting that Trump provided a carve-out for much of the medical technology sector when he imposed tariffs on China during his first term. 
Tariffs could also impact hospitals, which rely on imports for everyday supplies, such as gowns, gloves and syringes, along with bigger items such as X-ray equipment. 
But the American Medical Manufacturers Association, which advocates for U.S. businesses that produce medical personal protective equipment, or PPE, supports the tariffs on China and increasing domestic production of those products. 
In a statement Monday, the group said the tariffs recognize that China has “not changed its ways and continues to engage in anti-competitive and hazardous behavior that harms U.S. PPE and medical supply manufacturers and threatens our supply chains and national security.”

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Tariffs on key building materials sourced from Canada and Mexico could make homes more expensive and freeze out buyers.
President Donald Trump put 25% tariffs on goods from the two key trading partners, but later delayed duties on Mexico by a month.
Home prices are already at record highs, and Trump’s mass deportation plans could further pressure the market by reducing the construction labor force.

The U.S. housing market was already struggling under the weight of high mortgage interest rates, a low supply of existing homes for sale and historically high home prices.
Now tariffs on building materials are adding even more pressure.

About 30% of softwood lumber consumed in the U.S. is imported, largely from Canada. Wallboard, known as gypsum, is imported from Mexico. The 25% tariff President Donald Trump levied on goods from the two key trading partners will make those products that much more expensive. The Mexico tariffs were postponed Monday for a month, but they are still on the table.
“More than 70% of the imports of two essential materials that home builders rely on — softwood lumber and gypsum — come from Canada and Mexico, respectively,” Carl Harris, chairman of the National Association of Home Builders, wrote in a release. “Tariffs on lumber and other building materials increase the cost of construction and discourage new development, and consumers end up paying for the tariffs in the form of higher home prices.”
Home prices are already up well over 40% since the start of the pandemic and were still 3.8% higher in November, compared with the previous November, according to the latest read from the S&P Corelogic Case-Shiller national home price index. That annual increase was higher than the 3.6% in October.
Duties on building materials could make the market even harder for buyers.
“We believe this could make worse the affordability crisis for first-time buyers,” wrote Jaret Seiberg, housing policy analyst for TD Cowen Washington Research Group. “On the plus side, it could increase pressure on Congress to enact policies that encourage more entry-level construction including expanded tax credit programs.”

Prospective home buyers leave a property for sale during an Open House in a neighborhood in Clarksburg, Maryland.
Roberto Schmidt | AFP | Getty Images

The NAHB is asking the Trump administration to exempt building materials from the 25% tariffs, noting his executive order on the first day of his presidency that sought to “expand housing supply.”  
While the U.S. has ramped up lumber production in recent years, 70% of the country’s sawmill and wood product imports — $8.5 billion — come from Canada. They are already subject to a 14.5% tariff, so Trump’s new policy would raise it to over 39%.
And 71% of lime and gypsum product imports are from Mexico, totaling $352 million. Other materials, such as steel and appliances, are sourced from China. Trump put an additional 10% tariff on goods from China on Saturday.
New duties on imports from China, Canada and Mexico could raise construction material costs by $3 billion to $4 billion if they all take effect, affecting builders’ ability to complete projects, according to the NAHB.
The tariffs are likely to hit smaller homebuilders with tighter margins harder, but big builders are not immune.
“Even with a smaller portion of our lumber coming from Canada, and some materials from Mexico, we will all be affected — which, in turn, can impact consumers and their ability to purchase a home in the short-term,” said Sheryl Palmer, CEO of Arizona-based homebuilder Taylor Morrison. “In a time where some consumers are still struggling to overcome higher interest rates, my sincere hope is that these will be short-lived.”
Builders are already contending with a labor shortage that is only getting worse after the Trump administration started mass deportations of undocumented immigrants. Roughly 30% of construction workers are estimated to be immigrants, and a significant share of those workers are undocumented, according to the National Immigration Forum, an immigration advocacy group.
“You can run them all out of the country, but who’s going to build houses?” said Bruce McNeilage, CEO of Nashville-based Kinloch Partners, a single-family rental home developer.
While the bulk of the effect of tariffs is on new housing construction, the existing market could also feel the effects. If the costs of other consumer goods increase, all potential buyers will have less spare cash to save for a down payment.
There was also an expectation that interest rates would fall this year, but if inflation heats up again due to the tariffs, rates could even rise. This layering of both economic realities and emotional perceptions of personal wealth could hit the all-important, upcoming spring market hard. More

Trump’s import tariffs could threaten a long-standing relationship between Hollywood and Canada.
Some fear that a trade war with Canada could cause the U.S.’ northern neighbor to retaliate, potentially rescinding sought-after tax credits for film productions or closing stages to U.S. studios altogether.
Concerns are growing that higher tariffs across sectors could affect moviegoers’ wallets and in turn threaten box office sales.

The Hollywood sign in Los Angeles on Jan. 22, 2024
Mario Tama | Getty Images News | Getty Images

LOS ANGELES — President Donald Trump just launched a trade war with Hollywood’s best friend.
Known as Hollywood North, Canada has been a bustling production hub for American film and television series for decades. In addition to offering an enticing tax credit for stateside studios, the country has developed a top-notch workforce of industry talent in front of and behind the camera.

Trump’s import tariffs on Canadian goods could threaten that relationship, Hollywood insiders told CNBC.
Some fear that a heightened trade war with Canada could cause the U.S.’ northern neighbor to retaliate in ways that would hurt film production, potentially rescinding those sought-after tax credits or closing stages to U.S. studios altogether. Others believe the relationship between Hollywood and Canada is strong enough, and lucrative enough, to withstand Trump’s levies.
“No one — on either side of the border — wants to see American tariffs on Canadian goods,” Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau wrote on social media site X on Friday, promising a “forceful and immediate response.”
On Saturday, Trump announced 25% tariffs on most goods from Mexico and Canada, as well as a 10% duty on goods from China. Trudeau immediately slapped retaliatory tariffs on American goods, saying, “Like the American tariffs, our response will also be far-reaching.”
Trump’s tariffs could put pressure on production budgets, according to industry insiders, particularly for films and television shows that import certain textiles for costuming or unique construction materials such as specialty glass from outside the U.S.

However, most studios source materials locally to their productions. It is rare for a Los Angeles-based set to bring in lumber from Canada, for example. Films and TV shows filmed in other countries will predominantly use supplies in those locations or ship them from the U.S. This includes food used in catering, which could see a slight uptick in price because of tariffs, but likely will not alter budgets too much.
Additionally, many of the line items on the typical production budget are rented. Lighting, cameras and other production equipment come from studio warehouses and are leased for the duration of the shoot, insolating production costs from higher levies to an extent.

Squeezing consumers

Still, concerns are growing that higher tariffs across sectors could affect moviegoers’ wallets and in turn threaten box office sales.
Companies importing goods into the U.S. from these affected countries are expected to pass additional costs onto consumers, raising the cost of hundreds of common household goods. Film industry members who spoke to CNBC said they were worried that if customers start to tighten their purse strings, trips to the theater could be among the expenses that get cut.
Hollywood has only just begun to rebound after Covid-19 pandemic production shutdowns were exacerbated by dual labor strikes. Now, even if studios are able to improve the cadence of theatrical releases, there is concern that moviegoers will not have the discretionary income to see new films and buy popcorn.
If that reality bears out, the whole industry could suffer.
Ultimately, industry experts told CNBC that Hollywood will navigate whatever consequences come from Trump’s tariffs. However, it likely will have a harder time dealing with any pullback in consumer spending.
The hope is that even if prices spike, blockbuster films set for release in 2025 will be enough to drive ticket sales and foot traffic.

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Honda’s next generation of manufacturing is starting in Ohio.
The automaker plans to install six “giga presses,” made known by Tesla, and a new “cell” manufacturing system for its upcoming electric vehicle battery cases.
Typically such important manufacturing changes would begin in Honda’s home country of Japan to then be rolled out to facilities in the U.S. and elsewhere, according to company officials.

A Honda sedan moves down the assembly line on Jan. 28, 2025 at the automaker’s assembly plant in Marysville, Ohio. 
Michael Wayland / CNBC

MARYSVILLE, Ohio — Honda Motor is launching the next generation of its manufacturing in a historically unusual place for the 75-year-old Japanese automaker: Ohio.
Honda is in the midst of completing more than $1 billion in new investments — upped Wednesday from an initially announced $700 million — in the state this year. Upgrades most notably include installing six “giga presses,” which were made well-known by Tesla, and a new “cell” manufacturing system for its upcoming electric vehicle battery cases.

The company’s emerging EV hub in Ohio, including a separate $3.5 billion battery plant, will be the flagship for Honda’s global manufacturing operations. That includes its Marysville Auto Plant being capable of producing traditional vehicles, hybrids and EVs on the same assembly line, officials said during a daylong tour of the operations.
“The Honda EV hub in Ohio is establishing the global standard for EV production for people, for technology and for processes,” said Mike Fischer, North American lead for Honda’s battery-electric vehicle projects. “As we expand EV production regionally and globally, this is the footprint and the characteristic performance that will be used.”

Honda displays half of one of its new battery packs for electric vehicles on Jan. 28, 2025 at its engine and components plant in Anna, Ohio. 
Michael Wayland / CNBC

Typically such important manufacturing changes would begin in Honda’s home country of Japan and then get rolled out to facilities in the U.S. and elsewhere, according to company officials.
The Ohio investments were initially announced in October 2022 as part of the Biden administration’s push to on-shore manufacturing. They remain important amid threats of potential increases in tariffs for imported products such as automobiles by President Donald Trump.
Honda produced more than 1 million vehicles at five U.S. assembly plants in 2024. About 64% percent were sold in the U.S., while the remainder were exported. It has one assembly plant in Mexico.

Once completed, Honda will be able to produce roughly 220,000 vehicles annually at its Marysville plant, located in central Ohio outside of Columbus. The 4 million-square-foot facility currently produces several Honda and Acura vehicles, which are expected to be joined later this year by an all-electric Acura RSX crossover — the first EV produced by Honda.

Honda 0 Saloon & Honda 0 SUV prototypes

The Japanese automaker was late to invest in EVs compared with other automakers. It currently sells two all-electric crossovers — Honda Prologue and Acura ZDX — in the U.S., but those vehicles are produced by General Motors in Mexico.
The new Acura crossover will be followed by the Honda 0 SUV and Honda 0 Saloon EV prototypes the company debuted last month at CES in Las Vegas.
The aluminum battery packs for the new EVs will be produced at Honda’s nearby engine complex in Anna, Ohio — the company’s largest engine facility globally that has grown from a small rectangle building in 1985 to a more than 2.8-million-square feet plant.
“We’re establishing this large aluminum production technology for all Honda,” Tim Stroh, EV battery case project leader, said. “The goal here is to roll that out to other products, other factors across the world.”

A row of Honda’s new  6,000-ton high-pressure die cast machines that will “megacast,” or “gigacast,” as Tesla has referred to it, battery packs for the automaker at its engine and components plant in Anna, Ohio.
Michael Wayland / CNBC

To produce the battery packs and other EV components, as well as potentially engines in the future, the company is installing six massive, 6,000-ton high-pressure die cast machines that will “megacast,” or “gigacast” materials, as Tesla has referred to it. The massive machines are the size of a small house and use an enormous amount of pressure to form parts. Current Honda presses go up to 3,500 tons in Ohio.
Done correctly, gigacasting can theoretically slash per-unit manufacturing costs by eliminating the welding of dozens of body parts by casting one single module, according to S&P Global Mobility.
Once the packs are cast, they will be shipped from Anna to Marysville and other plants to have battery cells from Honda’s joint venture operations with LG Energy Solution installed before being used in the final assembly of EVs.

A Honda employee at the automaker’s large vehicle assembly plant in Marysville, Ohio demonstrates 
Michael Wayland / CNBC

To combine the battery cells and packs in Marysville, Honda is installing nearly 60 flexible manufacturing “cells,” or zones, for the battery assembly. Instead of a traditional assembly line, where parts are installed as a vehicle moves, the new production process occurs parallel to the main line in zones that make it so any potential slowdowns or problems don’t impact the main line.
“This is considered the second founding for Honda,” said Bob Schwyn, senior vice president of Honda Development and Manufacturing of America. “We’re using the opportunity to reimagine our approach to manufacturing.”
Honda has referred to its transition to electric vehicles, including fuel cells, as its “second founding.” Despite slower-than-expected adoption of EVs in the U.S., the company maintains previously announced goal of achieving zero environmental impact by 2050, through three critical action areas: carbon neutrality, clean energy and resource circulation.

Rows of new “cell,” or zone, production system for assembly of electric vehicle battery packs on Jan. 28, 2025 at Honda’s Marysville Assembly Plant.
Michael Wayland / CNBC

That goals also includes exclusively selling zero-emissions vehicles by 2040. Many other automakers have delayed or withdrawn such targets in recent years.
The more than $1 billion investments in current Ohio facilities also include several new manufacturing processes and techniques to lower emissions and waste, including using a special form of structural aluminum for the EV battery packs that can be recycled and reused.
“We’re using the opportunity to reimagine our approach to manufacturing and create new value in the area of environmental responsibility,” Schwyn said. “This includes strategies to recapture our products at end-of-life and then recycle or reuse 100% of the materials, especially finite materials for EV batteries to essentially make new Hondas out of old Hondas.” More

“I am a woman of colour. I am a mom. I am a cis-gender millennial who has been diagnosed with generalised anxiety disorder. I am intersectional.” She was also a spook. Her mission: advertising a career at the CIA. The time? 2021. The place? President Joe Biden’s America. More

The NTSB is continuing its investigation into how an American Airlines regional jetliner collided midair with a Black Hawk military helicopter.
Altitude, staffing and communication are some of the aspects that investigators will evaluate.
The crash killed all 67 people on board the two aircraft, the worst U.S. airline crash since 2001.

Search and rescue teams work in the aftermath of the collision of American Eagle flight 5342 and a Black Hawk helicopter that crashed into the Potomac River, with the Capitol dome in the background, as seen from Virginia, U.S., Jan. 30, 2025. 
Carlos Barria | Reuters

WASHINGTON — How an Army Black Hawk helicopter collided with American Airlines jetliner in a deadly crash over the Potomac River on Wednesday night is still unknown, but key questions are emerging, including about the altitude of the military helicopter.
Crash investigators recovered a flight recorder from the Sikorsky H-60 helicopter, adding to evidence they will comb through, which already includes interviews with air traffic controllers, including the one on duty at the time of the crash, and the two recorders from the airplane, National Transportation Safety Board member Todd Inman said Friday.

Barges are en route to lift the large pieces of the CRJ-700 from the Potomac River on Saturday, Inman said at a briefing.
All 64 people on American Flight 5342 and the three aboard the helicopter were killed in the fireball collision near the Washington, D.C.’s Reagan National Airport, marking the deadliest U.S. air crash since 2001.
Forty-one bodies have been recovered from the crash site, Fire and EMS Chief John Donnelly said at a press conference Friday. Of those, 28 have been positively identified.
“We have in aviation what’s called a ‘Swiss cheese approach,’ wherein if something fails, a backup should catch it, multiple layers of redundancy,” Inman said. “It’s been a very long time since we’ve had a major aviation incident in the United States and that’s why it’s one of the safest forms of transportation in the country.”
The PSA Airlines Bombardier CRJ-700 aircraft was flying at about 300 feet on final approach into Reagan National’s Runway 33 shortly before 9 p.m. ET on Wednesday when it collided with the Black Hawk helicopter.

PSA Airlines is one of American’s subsidiaries that flies regional routes, flights marketed as American Eagle.

Emergency personnel work near the site of the crash, with the U.S. Capitol in the background, after American Eagle flight 5342 collided with a Black Hawk helicopter while approaching Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and crashed in the Potomac River, U.S. January 30, 2025. 
Nathan Howard | Reuters

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the helicopter was on an annual proficiency training flight.
According to Federal Aviation Administration rules, helicopters, which regularly cross through and around Washington, between military bases, the Pentagon and other locations, must fly in the area close to the airport at a maximum of 200 feet.
“In D.C., it’s kind of a unique environment,” Inman said at a briefing Thursday. He noted that there are helicopter zones, or tracks, in Washington. “This one was transitioning from track one to four as part of their normal procedure. If you live in D.C., you see a lot of helicopters going down into this area. So there’s a very well-defined system.”

Read more about the American Airlines plane collision with an Army helicopter

The FAA will restrict helicopter traffic around the Reagan National Airport area, with some exceptions for medical evacuation and law enforcement operations, Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy said on X Friday.
The airspace is some of the most congested in the country and Reagan National says its main runway is the busiest in the U.S.

AFP, Flightradar, CNBC

While the investigation is ongoing, two out of three runways are closed at the airport because of their proximity to the crash area. Terry Liercke, vice president and airport manager, told the press Friday that he expects those closures could last for about a week.
Officials at the airport said more than 100 flights had been canceled Friday, citing the runway closures and bad weather.
“As you turn to align with the runway, your concentration is on the flight path to get on the runway quickly and get the airplane stopped,” said John Cox, a retired airline pilot and aviation safety consultant.
The NTSB is leading the investigation into the collision that ended in a fireball. The agency said it is still gathering information and that it is too early to draw conclusions.
“It’s not that we don’t have information. We do have information,” said NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy. “We have substantial amounts of information. We need to verify information. We need to take our time to make sure it is accurate.”
The NTSB also recovered flight data and cockpit voice recorders from the passenger jet. The boxes were taken to NTSB labs for evaluation, the agency said.

An NTSB investigator works on the black box of American Eagle flight 5342, which was involved in a collision with a Black Hawk helicopter, at an unknown location in this undated handout image released on January 30, 2025. 
NTSB | Via Reuters

President Donald Trump on Friday wrote on Truth Social that the helicopter “was flying too high, by a lot. It was far above the 200 foot limit. That’s not really too complicated to understand, is it???”
Hegseth made a similar statement at a White House briefing Thursday.
“Tragically, last night a mistake was made,” he said. “There was some sort of an elevation issue that we have immediately begun investigating at the DoD and Army level.”
Both statements were unusual in the wake of a crash and the early stages of an airline accident investigation.
The accident ends a decade-and-a-half period of air safety in the U.S., which hasn’t seen a fatal commercial crash since 2009, even though passenger traffic has increased by more than 35% to records. That crash prompted a host of stricter pilot training and rest standards.
Shortages of air traffic controllers has been a concern for years, and a spate of close calls at U.S. airports have drawn scrutiny from lawmakers and regulators.

(EDITORS NOTE: Image contains graphic content) In this U.S. Coast Guard handout, the Coast Guard investigates aircraft wreckage on the Potomac River on Jan. 30, 2025 in Washington, DC. 
Petty Officer 1st Class Brandon Giles | U.S. Coast Guard | Handout | Getty Images

Staffing at Reagan National the night of the crash wasn’t normal for the amount of traffic and time of day on the night of the crash, according to a preliminary FAA safety report on the collision, NBC News reported on Thursday.
Citing a source, NBC said the airport tower usually has a controller who focuses on helicopter traffic, though FAA guidelines allow for that position to be combined with another controller’s position, so one controller controls both airplanes and helicopters. The FAA didn’t respond to a request for comment on the report.
NBC News reported on Friday, citing a source familiar with the investigation that a supervisor at the Reagan National tower let a controller leave their shift early. 
Inman said on Friday that investigators will look back at air traffic controllers’ past 72 hours or even weeks.
“We’ll look at their training, their hiring, everything, what they probably ate that day,” he said. “But it is not one point that tells us everything. It’s layered into a lot of other information that’s very critical.”

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The FAA will restrict helicopter traffic around Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.
American Eagle Flight 5342 was seconds away from landing at Reagan National Airport when it collided with an Army helicopter on Wednesday night.

The air traffic control at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport is pictured, in the aftermath of the collision of American Eagle flight 5342 and a Black Hawk helicopter that crashed into the Potomac River, as seen from Virginia on Jan. 30, 2025.
Evelyn Hockstein | Reuters

WASHINGTON — The Federal Aviation Administration will restrict helicopter traffic around Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Washington, D.C., after the fatal collision of Army Black Hawk helicopter with an American Airlines jetliner earlier this week, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said Friday.
“Today’s decision will immediately help secure the airspace near Reagan Airport, ensuring the safety of airplane and helicopter traffic,” Duffy said in a post on social media site X. “The American people deserve full confidence in our aviation system and today’s action is a significant step towards restoring that trust.”

The restricted area includes Memorial Bridge to South Capitol Street Bridge, excluding the Tidal Basin; Haines Point to Wilson Bridge; and the airspace above the airport, Duffy said in the post.
National Transportation Safety Board member Todd Inman said at a briefing Thursday afternoon that helicopters operate in zones, or tracks, in Washington. “This one was transitioning from track one to four as part of their normal procedure,” he said. “If you live in D.C., you see a lot of helicopters going down into this area. So there’s a very well-defined system.”
American Eagle Flight 5342 was seconds away from landing at Reagan National Airport when it collided with the Army helicopter on Wednesday night. All 64 people on board the plane and all three people on the helicopter died. It was the first deadly commercial airline crash in the U.S. in more than 15 years and the deadliest since 2001.
American Airlines CEO Robert Isom said Thursday that it was not clear “why the military aircraft came into the path” of its aircraft. On Friday, Isom thanked President Donald Trump “for his leadership on aviation safety. I applaud him, Secretary Duffy and the Administration for taking quick and decisive action today to restrict helicopter activity around DCA.”
Investigators on Friday continued their investigation, looking at aspects such as the altitude of the aircraft, staffing and communication with air traffic controllers.

The American Airlines plane, a regional CRJ700 that was arriving from Wichita, Kansas, was flying at about 300 feet on its final approach when it collided with the Black Hawk.
According to FAA rules, helicopters, which routinely cross through and around Washington, between military bases, the Pentagon and other locations, must fly in the area close to the airport at a maximum of 200 feet.

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