Earlier this month, a Jetblue Airbus A321-200 was seen partially on fire after landing at Newark Liberty International Airport. As a result, the situation is being investigated by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).

A fiery landing

On July 10th, registration N981JT landed at Newark’s runway 22R after flying in from San Francisco International Airport. However, unusually, a small fire could be spotted on the plane’s right engine cover during its roll out.

According to The Aviation Herald, the A321 then taxied to its gate while maintaining routine communication. The NTSB has since confirmed that a small fire was visible on the engine and the event has been deemed as an official incident, which is presently under investigation.

RadarBox.com shows that the A231-231 left San Francisco at 22:56 PD to arrive at Newark at 07:23 EDT. The arrival taxi time took 19 minutes following a five hour and 27-minute flight, and the plane hasn’t been in the air since. The aircraft could be seen all over the country in previous days. It had landed at the likes of Los Angeles, Los Vegas, New York JFK, San Diego, West Palm Beach, and Boston the week before 

JetBlue A321
JetBlue’s A321 aircraft have been busy hopping across the United States amid a busy period following a year of significant downturn.

The Aviation Herald’s report comes on the same day we reported on another issue involving a transcontinental flight leaving SFO this month. A United Airlines service heading to Orlando had to be deplaned this week amid a passenger sharing photos with others that were deemed as a “threat”.

More about the aircraft

According to ch-aviation, N981JT, the aircraft involved in the SFO-Newark JetBlue flight arrived at the airline in May 2017. The A321 unit is currently stored at Newark following the fire. It joins one other A321-200 that’s currently on the ground. N957JB is undergoing maintenance. N4048J, an A321-200NX is also presently stored.

Altogether, JetBlue holds 63 A321-200s, 18s A321-200NXs, and two A321-200NXERs in its fleet. The New York-based carrier is a fan of the A320 family and has also been taking on A220 units, which have started to be deployed since April.

JetBlue
JetBlue flies to Bogotá four times a week, and will head to Cartagena three times a week and Orlando daily later this year. Photo: Getty Images.

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Domestic progress

Most of the airline’s fleet is active following a strong rebound in domestic travel across the United States. Amid this progress, the operator has been heavily promoting travel to and from the New York area. Notably, this summer, it launched an initiative to ramp up summer tourism in New York City, offering special flight deals.

Simple Flying reached out to JetBlue for comment on this incident in Newark. We will update the article with any further announcements from the airline.

What are your thoughts about this JetBlue flight landing at Newark with a fire on its wing? What do you make of this situation? Let us know what you think of the overall incident in the comment section.