Airport month record
EWRFEB
Newark Liberty International in February 2026
- Departures
- 9,244
- Month
- February 2026
- National, same month
- 80.2%
- Carriers
- 9
Historical statistics for February 2026, not live status or a forecast for this year’s February. For today’s conditions at EWR, see live FAA status.
EWR in February carries a cancellation problem, not just a delay problem: 7.9% of scheduled flights never operate, against 2.3% nationally. Of the ones that do fly, about four flights in five arrive on time, worth a B− overall. The punctuality figure counts only flights that actually departed, so it flatters an operation that cancels this often. That rests on 9,244 flights, of which Republic Airways flew 1,728 at 88.8% on time.
Republic Airways is the most reliable of the six carriers covered here at 88.8% on time across 1,728 flights.
Key figures
On time
81.8%
Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 8,503 completed departures
Avg delay
67 min
Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights
Cancelled
7.88%
Nationally in February: 2.25%
Whole year
77.7%
EWR across all twelve months
These figures cover 9,244 departures from Newark Liberty International in February 2026. On time means an arrival less than 15 minutes after the scheduled gate time, the DOT's threshold, and the national comparison uses every US departure in the same month rather than the whole year.
Against the year
February next to EWR's other months
Against EWR's own year, February ran 4 points better than the twelve-month rate of 77.7%, which makes it number four of twelve months, best first. Cancellations are where February stands out: 7.88% of scheduled departures were called off, 2.6 times the airport's rate across the year. Either side of it, January ran 78.8% on time and March 77.7%, so a trip moved by a few weeks would have landed in a worse stretch.
| Month | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| July 2025 | 10,478 | 68.2% | 106 min | 6.82% | C− |
| August 2025 | 10,410 | 77.9% | 85 min | 1.20% | B |
| September 2025 | 9,945 | 82.7% | 81 min | 1.11% | B |
| October 2025 | 10,578 | 71.0% | 62 min | 1.01% | C |
| November 2025 | 10,403 | 73.9% | 79 min | 4.39% | C− |
| December 2025 | 10,652 | 70.5% | 75 min | 2.63% | C |
| January 2026 | 9,977 | 78.8% | 68 min | 6.37% | B− |
| February 2026 (this page) | 9,244 | 81.8% | 67 min | 7.88% | B− |
| March 2026 | 10,755 | 77.7% | 76 min | 2.32% | B |
| April 2026 | 10,358 | 85.0% | 62 min | 0.69% | A+ |
| May 2026 | 10,300 | 86.4% | 72 min | 0.93% | A+ |
| June 2026 | 9,967 | 78.6% | 87 min | 1.53% | B |
Departure window
The best time of day to leave EWR in February
Departure time is the single lever a traveller controls, and it moves the odds more than most people expect. Each bar below is the on-time rate for flights scheduled to leave inside that window, across 9,244 flights.
- 5am–8am1,405 flights84.4%
- 8am–11am1,877 flights84.7%
- 11am–2pm1,238 flights85.0%
- 2pm–5pm1,712 flights82.9%
- 5pm–8pm1,781 flights76.6%
- 8pm–5am1,231 flights77.3%
Scale runs 70% to 90%. Rows with fewer than 30 flights show a dash.
The best window here is not the first bank but the 11am–2pm slot at 85.0% on time, ahead of 5pm–8pm at 76.6%. Where the curve peaks mid-day rather than at dawn, the constraint is usually congestion at one end rather than the aircraft's own rotation. The 8am–11am window is the busiest, with 1,877 flights scheduled in it.
Across the week, Tuesday is the strongest day at 88.2% on time and Wednesday the weakest at 74.5%. 14 points is a smaller lever than departure hour, but it is free.
Carrier by carrier
Which airlines ran best at EWR in February
The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. Republic Airways arrives on time 88.8% of the time; Spirit Airlines manages 68.7%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 716 flights means less than a ten-point one.
| Airline | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| United Airlines | 5,167 | 81.5% | 64 min | 6.48% | B− |
| Republic Airways | 1,728 | 88.8% | 61 min | 9.43% | A− |
| Spirit Airlines | 716 | 68.7% | 77 min | 13.97% | C− |
| American Airlines | 489 | 82.2% | 72 min | 7.77% | B− |
| Delta Air Lines | 469 | 87.3% | 73 min | 7.46% | A− |
| JetBlue Airways | 370 | 71.7% | 66 min | 8.38% | C− |
| Alaska Airlinesthin sample | 135 | 85.8% | 50 min | 10.37% | A− |
| Frontier Airlinesthin sample | 83 | 73.1% | 143 min | 6.02% | C− |
| Envoy Airthin sample | 62 | 74.6% | 47 min | 4.84% | C− |
Spirit Airlines cancels 14.0% of what it schedules here, the highest in the table. A cancelled flight never appears in an on-time rate, so read that column alongside the punctuality one rather than after it.
Route by route
Busiest routes out of EWR in February
| Route | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EWR to MCO · Orlando | 564 | 80.2% | 64 min | 7.80% | B− |
| EWR to ATL · Atlanta | 487 | 86.0% | 76 min | 7.80% | A− |
| EWR to FLL · Fort Lauderdale | 441 | 75.6% | 66 min | 7.94% | B− |
| EWR to ORD · Chicago | 439 | 78.2% | 53 min | 7.06% | B− |
| EWR to MIA · Miamithin sample | 351 | 77.1% | 65 min | 6.55% | B− |
| EWR to PBI · West Palm Beachthin sample | 349 | 79.4% | 59 min | 6.59% | B− |
| EWR to CLT · Charlottethin sample | 315 | 82.5% | 75 min | 9.21% | B− |
| EWR to LAX · Los Angelesthin sample | 302 | 74.3% | 75 min | 9.27% | C− |
| EWR to BOS · Bostonthin sample | 302 | 80.5% | 94 min | 8.28% | B− |
| EWR to SFO · San Franciscothin sample | 297 | 71.7% | 90 min | 7.07% | C− |
| EWR to DTW · Detroitthin sample | 285 | 88.6% | 73 min | 10.88% | A− |
| EWR to IAH · Houstonthin sample | 282 | 82.6% | 73 min | 6.03% | B− |
| EWR to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worththin sample | 279 | 81.7% | 73 min | 7.17% | B− |
| EWR to LAS · Las Vegasthin sample | 239 | 81.6% | 49 min | 6.69% | B− |
| EWR to DEN · Denverthin sample | 219 | 82.1% | 85 min | 5.48% | B− |
| EWR to TPA · Tampathin sample | 195 | 83.0% | 52 min | 6.67% | B− |
| EWR to RSW · Fort Myersthin sample | 185 | 82.1% | 54 min | 6.49% | B− |
| EWR to PHX · Phoenixthin sample | 182 | 82.2% | 60 min | 7.14% | B− |
| EWR to SJU · San Juanthin sample | 180 | 67.5% | 97 min | 7.78% | C− |
| EWR to CLE · Clevelandthin sample | 168 | 88.3% | 47 min | 8.33% | A− |
| EWR to MSP · Minneapolisthin sample | 157 | 88.1% | 49 min | 8.92% | A− |
| EWR to RDU · Raleighthin sample | 157 | 79.7% | 83 min | 8.92% | B− |
| EWR to IND · Indianapolisthin sample | 152 | 86.3% | 47 min | 8.55% | A− |
| EWR to CMH · Columbusthin sample | 147 | 91.7% | 70 min | 9.52% | A− |
| EWR to AUS · Austinthin sample | 147 | 86.1% | 67 min | 6.80% | A− |
Delay causes
What held EWR up in February
Carriers report a reason for every delay minute they cause, in five DOT categories. The split below is by minutes, not by number of flights, so a handful of very long weather delays weighs as much as many short ones. It covers 103,000 reported delay minutes.
- 39%Late-arriving aircraft
- 32%Carrier
- 26%National Airspace System
- 3%Extreme weather
- 0%Security
39% of delay minutes trace back to a late-arriving aircraft, meaning the plane was already behind before it got here. That is a cascade, and cascades start small and grow through the day. Across 103,000 reported delay minutes here, that single category outweighs weather by 12 to one. It is the strongest argument for booking the first departure of the morning, when the aircraft has been sitting at the gate overnight with nothing to inherit. The split is drawn from 102,759 reported delay minutes.
Cancellations run at 7.88%, against 2.25% nationally. That is about one flight in twelve cancelled outright. A cancelled flight is invisible in every on-time figure on this page, so the punctuality numbers above describe only the flights that actually operated.
6.2% of arrivals land an hour or more late, close to the national 6.5%. That is the figure that decides a connection, and it says a 60 to 75 minute layover is reasonable here while anything under 45 minutes is a bet. Most delays on this route last about an hour, which a normal layover absorbs.
What to do with this
Flying from EWR in February
For a February trip through EWR: expect 81.8% on time and 7.88% cancelled, going by February 2026. The 11am–2pm window was the strongest part of the day.
Related
Where to go next
- Newark Liberty International (EWR), the whole year
- EWR in July68.2%
- EWR in August77.9%
- EWR in September82.7%
- EWR in October71.0%
- EWR in November73.9%
- EWR in December70.5%
- EWR in January78.8%
- EWR in March77.7%
- EWR in April85.0%
- EWR in May86.4%
- EWR in June78.6%
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics, on-time performance data, July 2025 to June 2026. Last updated 15 September 2026; recomputed monthly. How this data is collected.