A flaming Starbucks concession inside Newark Airport’s Terminal A caused travel chaos early on Sunday morning after smoke filled the building and the sprinkler system flooded a baggage handling room.
The incident occurred at around 4 am when a fire erupted inside the large Starbuck concession in the secure ‘airside’ area of Terminal A. Passengers had to be evacuated from the building, while thousands of people were kept from getting to their gates as firefighters put out the blaze.
The cause of the fire is yet to be established, and officials for Newark Liberty Airport have been less than direct with the issue that caused so much disruption.
In a post on social media site X, the airport initially said that “ongoing maintenance” was the cause of the problems, advising passengers to give themselves extra time if they were planning to travel from Terminal A.
In a later post, the airport said that there had been a “building utility issue” and warned passengers to check the status of their flight before heading to the airport.
Airlines that use Terminal A include American Airlines, Delta, and Jetblue, as well as Air Canada and United Airlines for some flights.
One passenger who was due to fly from Newark on Sunday morning said she had been stuck in Terminal A for four hours after the TSA closed down all of its checkpoints to prevent passengers from getting to the airside departure area.
When Alysha Youngberg did finally get through the checkpoint after it was reopened, she shared a photo of the now cordoned off Starbucks concession that was the cause of all the drama.
Another passenger who was hit by the disruption, Shawn Cicoria, also took to X to complain that very little information was being shared by the airport or the airlines that use Terminal A.
In one post, Shawn said that hundreds of people were waiting to check bags with United but hadn’t been given any information as to why flights were being delayed from the airport.
And another passenger, Mary-Grace Lamonte, feared she would miss her flight due to the fire alarm but later thanked JetBlue for holding flights until the security checkpoints reopened.
Despite all the disruption at the start of the day, Newark Airport says flights are now running smoothly from Terminal A, and the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) said lines to get through the security checkpoint were quickly cleared.
