Drone sightings at Newark airport disrupt air traffic

Flights were grounded at Newark International Airport in the US state of New Jersey after two drones were spotted flying nearby.

A pilot told air traffic control that one of the drones came within 30ft (9m) of his aircraft.

Gregory Martin, a spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration, said the drones were seen flying near Teterboro Airport around 5 p.m. Teterboro is a general aviation airport located about 20 miles north of Newark International. As a precaution, arriving flights at Newark were temporarily held. He said the ground stop was put into place as a precautionary measure.

The airport is the 11th busiest in the US, with 20mn boarding there each year.

Drones can cause severe damage to aircraft and distract pilots. The drones in the Newark incident were flying at 3,500 feet, officials said.

Passengers reported that some flights were forced to circle the airport before being cleared to land.

The incident follows major disruption over the Christmas period at London’s Gatwick airport, where apparent drone sightings grounded hundreds of flights over the course of three days.

United Airlines, which uses Newark as a hub, said: "The impact to our operations has been minimal so far. We are working closely with the airport and the FAA to return our operations to normal as quickly as possible."

Drones have become a considerable menace for the aviation industry.

Earlier this month, London's Heathrow airport, the country's busiest, held flights for about an hour after a sighting - but was soon operating as normal.

Gatwick, however, was far hit far worse. It grounded flights between 19-21 December, affecting the travel of an estimated 140,000 people.

Two people were arrested over the attack but released without charge. No other arrests have been made.

When a drone collided with a passenger plane over Quebec City last year, the plane landed safely. But officials said a different point of impact could have been devastating.

Slamming the speech as shameless US meddling in his country’s internal affairs, Maduro in response promised his supporters to announce specific measures against Washington in the coming hours.

“Enough of aggression and conspiracies, enough is enough!” said Maduro, rejecting the “imperialist interventionism” and open calls for coup d'état that he called unprecedented in the 200-year history of US-Venezuela relations.