Additional Coverage:
- United flight declares emergency after wild passenger attacks flight attendant trying to enter cockpit (themirror.com)
A United Airlines flight arriving at Newark Liberty International Airport declared a state of emergency Saturday evening after a passenger reportedly assaulted a flight attendant.
Flight 1837, which had traveled from Puerto Plata in the Dominican Republic, touched down at Newark around 5:21 p.m. During the approach, pilots contacted air traffic control requesting immediate police assistance due to the incident onboard.
“United 1837, we’re declaring a state of emergency. It seems someone just attacked one of our flight attendants,” one pilot reported, according to audio captured by the ATC app. The pilot also requested emergency vehicles to meet the aircraft upon arrival.
When asked about the nature of the emergency, the pilot explained that a passenger had physically attacked a flight attendant and attempted to open the main cabin door during the flight. The air traffic controller responded with visible shock.
Another pilot aboard the plane urged that the flight be directed to a gate as soon as possible to facilitate law enforcement intervention.
This alarming event unfolded the same day Spirit Airlines announced it was ceasing operations after failing to secure a $500 million bailout from the Trump administration. The carrier posted on its website that it had begun an orderly wind-down effective immediately, leading to widespread flight cancellations and leaving many passengers and employees stranded.
Spirit CEO Dave Davis attributed the airline’s collapse largely to rising fuel costs, which he linked to geopolitical tensions stemming from the Trump administration’s actions regarding Iran. Davis explained that the sudden spike in fuel prices undermined Spirit’s efforts to recover after filing for bankruptcy twice in less than a year.
“Sustaining the business required hundreds of millions of additional dollars of liquidity that Spirit simply does not have and could not procure,” Davis said. He cautioned that other airlines are facing similar financial pressures, though Spirit’s limited cash reserves forced it to fold first.
“Everybody’s burning cash – we just had a smaller pile to begin with,” Davis remarked. “They’re not far behind us in the race.”
The combination of a violent onboard incident at Newark and the broader struggles facing the airline industry highlights ongoing challenges in air travel security and economic stability.