Newark flights halted after control tower evacuated

Flights at Newark Liberty International Airport were halted Monday after the air traffic control tower was evacuated.

In a statement, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said that “[a]rrivals and departures are temporarily paused at” the airport “after air traffic controllers evacuated the tower” due to “a burning smell coming from an elevator.”

The evacuation, according to the FAA, occurred close to 7:30 a.m. EDT.

Last spring, delays and cancellations hampered operations at Newark. Air traffic controllers briefly lost contact with planes at the airport in late April. The blackout caused hundreds of flights to be delayed or cancelled at Newark, causing a notable air travel mess.

Late Sunday, two pilots were killed in a crash between a jet and a fire truck on a runway at LaGuardia International Airport in New York, which is also close to Newark.

The plane was trying to land as it hit the emergency vehicle, which was going across the runway in response to an incident involving a United Airlines flight, said Kathryn Garcia, executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

Forty-one passengers were hospitalized due to the crash of the Jazz Aviation flight operating on behalf of Air Canada,  which caused the death of the pilot and co-pilot.

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