Airport month record
EWRJAN
Newark Liberty International in January 2026
- Departures
- 9,977
- Month
- January 2026
- National, same month
- 79.2%
- Carriers
- 9
Historical statistics for January 2026, not live status or a forecast for this year’s January. For today’s conditions at EWR, see live FAA status.
EWR in January carries a cancellation problem, not just a delay problem: 6.4% of scheduled flights never operate, against 4.7% 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 9,977 flights, of which Republic Airways flew 1,845 at 86.6% on time.
Republic Airways is the most reliable of the six carriers covered here at 86.6% on time across 1,845 flights.
Key figures
On time
78.8%
Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 9,327 completed departures
Avg delay
68 min
Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights
Cancelled
6.37%
Nationally in January: 4.71%
Whole year
77.7%
EWR across all twelve months
These figures cover 9,977 departures from Newark Liberty International in January 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
January next to EWR's other months
Against EWR's own year, January ran about a point better than the twelve-month rate of 77.7%, which makes it number five of twelve months, best first. Cancellations are where January stands out: 6.37% of scheduled departures were called off, 2.1 times the airport's rate across the year. Either side of it, December ran 70.5% on time and February 81.8%, 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 (this page) | 9,977 | 78.8% | 68 min | 6.37% | B− |
| February 2026 | 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 January
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 9,977 flights.
- 5am–8am1,510 flights82.1%
- 8am–11am2,041 flights82.1%
- 11am–2pm1,413 flights79.7%
- 2pm–5pm1,768 flights77.2%
- 5pm–8pm1,936 flights75.3%
- 8pm–5am1,309 flights76.4%
Scale runs 65% to 90%. Rows with fewer than 30 flights show a dash.
The early departures do better, though not dramatically: 82.1% on time for the 5am–8am window against 75.3% for 5pm–8pm. Worth taking if the schedule allows, not worth an extra connection. The 8am–11am window is the busiest, with 2,041 flights scheduled in it.
Across the week, Wednesday is the strongest day at 89.9% on time and Sunday the weakest at 55.8%. 34 points is a smaller lever than departure hour, but it is free.
Carrier by carrier
Which airlines ran best at EWR in January
The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. Republic Airways arrives on time 86.6% of the time; JetBlue Airways manages 66.8%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 401 flights means less than a ten-point one.
| Airline | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| United Airlines | 5,591 | 77.8% | 66 min | 4.86% | B− |
| Republic Airways | 1,845 | 86.6% | 52 min | 9.00% | A− |
| Spirit Airlines | 749 | 70.4% | 65 min | 9.48% | C− |
| American Airlines | 541 | 85.3% | 105 min | 10.17% | A− |
| Delta Air Lines | 514 | 83.9% | 80 min | 5.45% | B− |
| JetBlue Airways | 401 | 66.8% | 87 min | 5.99% | C− |
| Alaska Airlinesthin sample | 139 | 66.7% | 54 min | 2.88% | C |
| Frontier Airlinesthin sample | 93 | 69.3% | 90 min | 5.38% | C− |
| Envoy Airthin sample | 75 | 69.7% | 122 min | 12.00% | C− |
American Airlines cancels 10.2% 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 January
| Route | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EWR to MCO · Orlando | 599 | 78.6% | 81 min | 4.84% | B− |
| EWR to ATL · Atlanta | 513 | 78.5% | 58 min | 6.43% | B− |
| EWR to FLL · Fort Lauderdale | 500 | 76.0% | 65 min | 5.80% | B− |
| EWR to ORD · Chicago | 479 | 73.2% | 71 min | 6.26% | C− |
| EWR to MIA · Miami | 382 | 79.4% | 64 min | 5.76% | B− |
| EWR to PBI · West Palm Beach | 368 | 76.9% | 58 min | 4.89% | B− |
| EWR to CLT · Charlottethin sample | 342 | 83.6% | 118 min | 10.82% | B− |
| EWR to LAX · Los Angelesthin sample | 327 | 61.3% | 74 min | 3.67% | D− |
| EWR to SFO · San Franciscothin sample | 327 | 71.2% | 119 min | 4.59% | C− |
| EWR to IAH · Houstonthin sample | 321 | 82.0% | 63 min | 4.67% | B− |
| EWR to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worththin sample | 301 | 79.9% | 60 min | 12.29% | B− |
| EWR to DTW · Detroitthin sample | 297 | 79.6% | 67 min | 7.41% | B− |
| EWR to BOS · Bostonthin sample | 296 | 80.8% | 67 min | 6.76% | B− |
| EWR to DEN · Denverthin sample | 251 | 73.7% | 56 min | 3.19% | C− |
| EWR to LAS · Las Vegasthin sample | 249 | 73.7% | 57 min | 6.43% | C− |
| EWR to SJU · San Juanthin sample | 214 | 65.5% | 87 min | 7.94% | C− |
| EWR to PHX · Phoenixthin sample | 203 | 82.6% | 69 min | 6.40% | B− |
| EWR to TPA · Tampathin sample | 199 | 78.8% | 54 min | 5.03% | B− |
| EWR to CLE · Clevelandthin sample | 191 | 79.4% | 72 min | 5.76% | B− |
| EWR to IND · Indianapolisthin sample | 184 | 83.5% | 58 min | 7.07% | B− |
| EWR to RSW · Fort Myersthin sample | 180 | 82.5% | 58 min | 4.44% | B− |
| EWR to AUS · Austinthin sample | 180 | 80.8% | 60 min | 7.22% | B− |
| EWR to MSP · Minneapolisthin sample | 171 | 89.1% | 72 min | 8.19% | A− |
| EWR to CMH · Columbusthin sample | 171 | 87.8% | 42 min | 8.77% | A− |
| EWR to RDU · Raleighthin sample | 155 | 79.0% | 57 min | 7.74% | B− |
Delay causes
What held EWR up in January
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 134,000 reported delay minutes.
- 35%Carrier
- 33%Late-arriving aircraft
- 29%National Airspace System
- 3%Extreme weather
- 0%Security
The largest share of delay minutes, 35%, falls under carrier control: crew scheduling, maintenance, fuelling, baggage. Unlike weather, that is a management outcome, and it is the category where the gap between two carriers on the same schedule is genuinely earned. It accounts for 47,000 of the 134,000 delay minutes reported here. The split is drawn from 134,239 reported delay minutes.
Cancellations run at 6.37%, against 4.71% nationally. That is about one flight in fifteen 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.
7.6% of arrivals land an hour or more late, close to the national 7.6%. 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 January
For a January trip through EWR: expect 78.8% on time and 6.37% cancelled, going by January 2026. The 5am–8am 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 February81.8%
- 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.