Federal Aviation Administration officials confirmed that air traffic operations at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey were temporarily halted on Monday morning when controllers evacuated the airport's control tower after detecting a burning smell coming from an elevator.
The FAA said arrivals and departures were paused as a precaution while the tower was cleared. The pause began at about 7:30 a.m. and, according to the agency, controllers returned to the tower and the ground stop was lifted roughly half an hour later.
Authorities characterized the smell as coming from an elevator in the tower, prompting the evacuation of air traffic controllers who manage arrivals and departures at the busy airport. No additional detail about the source of the odor or any damage was provided in the FAA statement.
The incident at Newark occurred the morning after a separate, fatal accident at New York's LaGuardia airport, where an Air Canada Express jet struck a fire truck while landing. That collision killed both pilots, injured dozens of people and forced the closure of LaGuardia, officials said.
Officials and industry observers have noted that U.S. aviation is operating against a backdrop of chronic shortages in two critical personnel groups. The FAA has long reported a shortage of air traffic controllers, and the Transportation Security Administration is also experiencing a shortfall of officers tied to a partial government shutdown. Those staffing gaps have been associated with delays, long security lines and broader safety concerns across airports nationwide, according to the reporting.
While the Newark pause was brief and operations resumed within about 30 minutes, the episode highlighted how non-routine events in control towers - even localized issues such as a smell originating from an elevator - can lead to immediate operational pauses at major airports. The FAA's action to evacuate the tower and pause traffic reflected standard precautionary procedures to ensure controller safety and maintain oversight of airport movements.
Given the recent deadly crash at LaGuardia and the ongoing personnel shortages, aviation officials and travelers remain attentive to how episodic incidents and systemic staffing challenges may intersect to affect airport operations.