JetBlue Flight Forced to Evacuate After Smoke Fills Cabin, Newark Airport Briefly Shuts Down

Passengers on a JetBlue flight bound for Florida experienced a tense midweek scare after smoke filled the cabin, forcing an emergency landing and evacuation at Newark Liberty International Airport.

Flight 543 departed Newark shortly after 5:30 p.m. Wednesday en route to West Palm Beach. But about 17 minutes into the flight, the Airbus A320 turned around following what the airline later described as an engine issue.

Air traffic control audio captured by LiveATC.net reveals the calm but urgent tone inside the cockpit. After landing safely back in Newark, the pilot told controllers they would clear the runway and have fire and rescue crews inspect the aircraft’s number one engine.

Controllers Announced That Newark Was Closed

Moments later, the situation escalated.

“We got smoke in the back,” the pilot can be heard saying. “We are going to have to be evacuating here in a second.”

@lisa.taylor4313

About 10 minutes into the flight, we all smelled electrical fire smell. Flight attendants started yelling “FIRE FIRE THERES A FIRE”. Huge bang followed by plane shaking and screaming, which was later confirmed to be the engine failure. Pilot tells us we are turning back to Newark to emergency land and will be surrounded by emergency vehicles. We had to exit the plane via the emergency slides. We landed on the tarmac and had to stand out in the rainy cold. We eventually got put onto buses and brought back to the terminal. All of Newark is grounded #fyp #plane #airport #foryoupage #fypシ

♬ suara asli - ˢᵃᵈⁿᵉˢˢ - ˢᵃᵈⁿᵉˢˢ

Emergency crews outside the aircraft warned the tower that the slides were about to deploy, and passengers were evacuated onto the tarmac. The airport temporarily halted operations as a precaution, with controllers announcing that Newark was closed. The Federal Aviation Administration issued a ground stop, pausing inbound flights for roughly an hour.

Despite the alarming scene, no injuries were reported. JetBlue said in a statement that safety remains its top priority and that it is working with federal authorities to investigate what happened. The FAA has launched a formal review of the incident.