Ground Stop Issued At Newark Airport, Air Traffic Control Tower Evacuated

A burning smell had been detected from an elevator.

Arrivals and departures were temporarily paused.

“An FAA spokesperson confirmed there was no fire and the controllers evacuated the tower due to a burning smell from an elevator,” ABC7 New York wrote.

“The ground stop at Newark was lifted just after 8:30 a.m. Newark’s ground stop came amid regional travel chaos; nearby LaGuardia Airport closed hours earlier following a plane-truck collision on a runway,” it continued.

Newark Liberty International Airport experienced a ground stop Monday morning after a report of smoke in the air traffic control tower.

An FAA spokesperson confirmed there was no fire and the controllers evacuated the tower due to a burning smell from an elevator.

The ground… pic.twitter.com/QxxK8i3j8M

— Eyewitness News (@ABC7NY) March 23, 2026

ABC7 New York shared further:

The air traffic controllers were moved to the backup facility on site.

Flights were forced to hold, but then air traffic controllers were seen moving back to the tower by 8:30 a.m.

Flights were spotted landing at the airport and the ground stop was lifted.

Nearby LaGuardia Airport remains closed after a plane collided with a truck on a runway.

LaGuardia Airport will remain closed until at least 2 p.m. EST.

What a horrific incident. My thoughts are with the victims and their families. Will be critical to learn what failures allowed this to happen.

In meantime LaGuardia is closed until at least 2:00pm today. NYPD has advised that all streets and highway exits into the airport are… https://t.co/F8wSSBzSfh

— Mark D. Levine (@MarkLevineNYC) March 23, 2026

More from the New York Post:

Passengers at airports across the country have been subjected to hours-long security delays because of the ongoing Transportation Security Administration shutdown.

Two pilots were killed late Sunday at LaGuardia Airport in Queens when an Air Canada-operated flight collided with a fire truck on the runway.