Air traffic controllers at Newark Liberty International Airport evacuated their control tower Monday morning due to a burning odor from an elevator. Flight operations were suspended for less than an hour while controllers worked from a backup facility.
Flight operations came to a temporary standstill at Newark Liberty International Airport on Monday morning when air traffic controllers were forced to evacuate their control tower because of a burning odor emanating from an elevator, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
The source of the smell remained unclear, though officials confirmed no actual fire took place. The disruption lasted under one hour with no reported injuries.
While flights were suspended, FAA personnel moved operations to an alternate control tower at the facility, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey reported. Controllers eventually returned to their main tower location.
This incident follows a similar situation from earlier in January when airports in the Washington D.C., Baltimore, and Richmond areas suspended all air traffic for more than an hour due to a powerful chemical odor that affected air traffic control operations. Federal Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy later identified an overheated circuit board as the culprit, which was subsequently replaced.
Monday’s flight suspension at Newark Liberty had no connection to the deadly collision at LaGuardia Airport on Sunday evening. That tragic incident resulted in two fatalities and multiple serious injuries when an Air Canada regional aircraft collided with a fire truck during landing, according to authorities.
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