Newark Arrivals Halted Briefly Over Drone Activity

Flights arriving into Newark’s Liberty Airport were halted briefly on Tuesday after the FAA ordered a stop because of drone sightings in New Jersey.

The FAA said two drones were spotted near Teterboro Airport, 17 miles (27 km) from Newark. The drones were reported to be flying at around 3,500 feet above the small regional airport.

The FAA issued a ground stop at Newark, a pause that lasted less than an hour.

The airport later reported that arrivals had restarted but some flights were suffering delays of 55 minutes.

“We’re coordinating with the FAA & fully supporting all federal law enforcement authorities as they investigate this incident,” the airport posted on its Twitter account.

The temporary halt comes after two London airports closed briefly over the last four weeks because of nearby drone activity.

Heathrow closed for an hour in January because of drone sightings close to the airport, and Gatwick had severe flight disruptions over three days prior to the peak travel season in December. Tens of thousands of passenger journeys were disrupted because of the stoppages.