Smoke at Tower Causing Delays at Newark Liberty

Smoke coming from an elevator shaft in the control tower at Newark Liberty International Airport briefly grounded flights this afternoon, The Wall Street Journal has reported.     

Smoke was seen wafting from the shaft around 12:44 pm Tuesday, forcing air traffic controllers to head to a backup location. Flights began moving again at 1:05 pm.

A “ground delay” was in effect until 8 pm Tuesday night, however, limiting the number of flights at Newark, The Sacramento Bee reported.

The Federal Aviation Administration was still investigating the cause of the smoke Tuesday afternoon, according to various news reports.