Newark Airport Traffic Stopped Over ‘Airport Emergency’

No arrivals or departures are being allowed at New Jersey’s Newark Liberty International Airport because of an unspecified “airport emergency.
Newark Airport Traffic Stopped Over ‘Airport Emergency’
A file photo shows the Newark Liberty Airport in Newark on May 27, 2017. (KENA BETANCUR/AFP/Getty Images)
6/29/2019
Updated:
6/29/2019
Arrivals and departures were delayed at New Jersey’s Newark Liberty International Airport on Saturday morning because of an unspecified “airport emergency,” the airport said on Twitter.

Officials with the airport or the Federal Aviation Administration couldn’t immediately be reached for comment about the emergency.

But a passenger aboard a United Airlines flight, John Murray, told CNN his plane was diverted to Newark shortly after taking off from New York’s LaGuardia Airport on Saturday morning.

“All I know is that 10 minutes after takeoff we weren’t getting much altitude, we were just circling around northern New Jersey and not going anywhere,” he said. “That’s when we landed ... at Newark.”

“Emergency crews ushered us out of the plane” after landing, he said.

“I spoke with one of the emergency crews who told us that apparently, we had a flat tire and there was something about friction ... and that possibly there was smoke, and that’s why we had to make the emergency landing.”

A Dreamliner 787-10 arriving from Los Angeles pulls up to a gate in Newark Liberty International Airport in Newark, N.J., on Jan. 7, 2019. (Seth Wenig/File Photo via AP)
A Dreamliner 787-10 arriving from Los Angeles pulls up to a gate in Newark Liberty International Airport in Newark, N.J., on Jan. 7, 2019. (Seth Wenig/File Photo via AP)
Delta passengers wait in line at a ticket counter at Newark Liberty International Airport in Newark, N.J., on Aug. 8, 2016. (Seth Wenig/FILE PHOTO via AP)
Delta passengers wait in line at a ticket counter at Newark Liberty International Airport in Newark, N.J., on Aug. 8, 2016. (Seth Wenig/FILE PHOTO via AP)

Airport Announced Emergency Around 8:35 a.m.

The airport initially tweeted around 8:35 a.m. local time that no arrivals or departures were being allowed because of an emergency.
About an hour later, the airport said it had reopened—but that travelers should expect delays.

All passengers eventually were taken to a terminal, Murray said. He said was looking into getting another flight.

His plane, United Airlines Flight 2098, had been bound for Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport.

United couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.