Newark airport could shut down if drone spotted, Port Authority official says

Update: Stewart International Airport in Orange County, New York was closed briefly on Friday night after a drone was spotted near the airspace.

Newark Liberty International Airport will be shut down if a drone is spotted in its airspace, leading to massive flight cancellations and delays across the nation during the busy holiday season.

New Jersey officials have been inundated with reports of unidentified drones spotted across the State over the last four weeks and are frustrated by the U.S. government’s lack of guidance on what to do about it.

Now, officials at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey say the Federal Aviation Administration, which controls the airspace over the airports, would likely issue an immediate order to stop planes from taking off and landing.

“If we’ve got a drone, we’d have to assess and shut the whole airport down,” said Greg Ehrie, the chief security officer of the bi-state authority.

The threat of drones to airport operations is nothing new. In 2018, London Gatwick Airport was shut down for nearly three days after a drone was seen near a runway; over 1,000 flights were affected.

Still, flying drones is not illegal, leaving state and local government officials without the authority to deal with issues independently—even if they involve a designated no-fly zone like an airport.  And drone activity near an airport is not unusual: hobbyists have been seen using personal drones to film planes for years.

Gov. Phil Murphy told President Biden in a letter on Thursday that federal resources are needed to help the state better understand the recent activity of unmanned aircraft systems.

Airport closures in New Jersey or New York have a significant spillover effect throughout the U.S.

Last night, a bird strike at LaGuardia Airport in New York damaged an engine and forced an American Airlines plane to make an emergency landing.

The issue raises a serious question: if a bird has the potential to take down an airplane, what will happen with a drone?