Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey, which serves the New York metropolitan area, was closed for about five hours on Wednesday due to an «emergency» involving an aircraft that had to be evacuated and removed. According to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) website, the airport remained closed from 18:00 to 23:00 local time. All departures were halted, and flights were delayed until midnight due to poor weather with «low clouds». The airport stated on its X account that air operations were «temporarily suspended while an aircraft is being removed from the runway due to a previous incident». The website, however, cited the «emergency evacuation of an aircraft». The Port Authority reported that a JetBlue flight that had departed from Newark at 17:43 local time to West Palm Beach, Florida, had to return shortly after takeoff due to an engine failure but landed safely without causing any injuries, as reported by local ABC7. The FAA, for its part, told local media that the crew of that flight reported smoke in the cabin after landing, and passengers had to be evacuated using slides.
