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In a significant disruption on Monday morning, Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey temporarily ceased all incoming and outgoing flights. This suspension occurred after air traffic controllers were forced to evacuate their tower due to smoke infiltrating the area from an elevator.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) confirmed the shutdown but refrained from commenting further on the exact source or composition of the smoke, according to a report by the Associated Press.
During the incident, FAA personnel were moved to a backup facility at the airport, as stated by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which oversees airport operations. Fortunately, staff were able to return to the main control tower shortly after.
This incident at Newark Liberty is unrelated to a separate fatal accident that occurred at New York’s LaGuardia Airport on Sunday night.
Earlier this month, four airports serving Washington, D.C., Baltimore and Richmond, Virginia, halted all flights for over an hour because of a strong chemical smell that was impeding air traffic controllers.
Federal Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the source of the strong odor was traced to a circuit board that overheated and was replaced.
The Newark Liberty was not related to a fatal accident at New York’s LaGuardia Airport on Sunday night.
In that episode, two people were killed and several others were seriously injured when an Air Canada regional jet struck a fire truck on a runway while landing, as Breitbart News reported.