Newark Liberty International Airport grounded all arriving and departing flights on Saturday morning after a flight that had departed from La Guardia Airport had to make an emergency landing at Newark, officials said on Twitter.
Airport officials described what happened on Twitter as an “airport emergency,” but specific details were not immediately available.
The flights were grounded around 8:45 a.m.
“We were in the air not more than 20 minutes,” John Murray, 24, of Manhattan, who had been on the plane, said as he waited to be driven from the tarmac to the airport terminal. “The emergency response staff said we had a flat tire.”
The plane, a United Airlines flight, was originally headed to George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston.
Mr. Murray explained that shortly after the plane left La Guardia, he had overheard the flight staff say that the plane’s flat tire had created some friction in the wheel well, and that the friction created smoke, which had prompted the emergency landing.
He said there had been no formal announcement about the emergency landing.
“It was a little nerve-racking seeing that we weren’t gaining any altitude and we were just circulating,” Mr. Murray said. “We kind of figured that something was amiss.”
After the flight landed at Newark, passengers were shuttled by bus from the tarmac to the United Airlines lounge at the Newark airport.
“Once I saw we were landing at Newark, I was sure it had to be for a good reason,” Mr. Murray said.
Earlier this month, tires on a Boeing 757 operated by United Airlines blew out as the plane was landing at Newark. The episode caused flight delays but no injuries to the 166 passengers on board.