Airport month record
EWRMAR
Newark Liberty International in March 2026
- Departures
- 10,755
- Month
- March 2026
- National, same month
- 75.7%
- Carriers
- 9
Historical statistics for March 2026, not live status or a forecast for this year’s March. For today’s conditions at EWR, see live FAA status.
EWR in March lands a B, 2 points better than the national rate of 75.7%. Roughly one flight in four arrives 15 minutes late or worse, and those flights are late by a little over an hour on average. That is a workable record, not a spotless one. That rests on 10,755 flights, of which American Airlines flew 550 at 82.9% on time.
American Airlines is the most reliable of the six carriers covered here at 82.9% on time across 550 flights.
Key figures
On time
77.7%
Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 10,469 completed departures
Avg delay
76 min
Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights
Cancelled
2.32%
Nationally in March: 2.90%
Whole year
77.7%
EWR across all twelve months
These figures cover 10,755 departures from Newark Liberty International in March 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
March next to EWR's other months
Against EWR's own year, March ran level with the twelve-month rate of 77.7%, which makes it number eight of twelve months, best first. Either side of it, February ran 81.8% on time and April 85.0%, so a trip moved by a few weeks would have landed in a better 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 | 9,244 | 81.8% | 67 min | 7.88% | B− |
| March 2026 (this page) | 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 March
Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 18 points, against 26 points between the best and worst carrier. Each bar is the on-time rate for flights scheduled inside that window.
- 5am–8am1,790 flights87.6%
- 8am–11am2,047 flights81.7%
- 11am–2pm1,415 flights79.9%
- 2pm–5pm2,023 flights74.9%
- 5pm–8pm2,165 flights71.9%
- 8pm–5am1,315 flights69.5%
Scale runs 60% to 95%. Rows with fewer than 30 flights show a dash.
Book the early departure. Flights leaving between 5am–8am arrive on time 87.6% of the time, against 69.5% for the overnight window. That is 18 points of difference for no extra money, and it comes from the same aircraft having had no earlier flight to fall behind on. The 5pm–8pm window is the busiest, with 2,165 flights scheduled in it.
Across the week, Wednesday is the strongest day at 83.2% on time and Thursday the weakest at 73.5%. 10 points is a smaller lever than departure hour, but it is free.
Carrier by carrier
Which airlines ran best at EWR in March
The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. American Airlines arrives on time 82.9% of the time; Spirit Airlines manages 56.7%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 847 flights means less than a ten-point one.
| Airline | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| United Airlines | 5,951 | 78.4% | 72 min | 1.09% | B |
| Republic Airways | 1,989 | 82.4% | 76 min | 2.26% | B |
| Spirit Airlines | 847 | 56.7% | 81 min | 10.39% | D− |
| American Airlines | 550 | 82.9% | 100 min | 2.00% | B |
| Delta Air Lines | 549 | 82.3% | 95 min | 4.37% | B− |
| JetBlue Airways | 423 | 80.4% | 73 min | 2.13% | B |
| Alaska Airlinesthin sample | 263 | 67.7% | 52 min | 0.38% | C+ |
| Frontier Airlinesthin sample | 96 | 69.9% | 75 min | 3.12% | C− |
| Envoy Airthin sample | 56 | 71.2% | 139 min | 7.14% | C− |
Spirit Airlines cancels 10.4% 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 March
| Route | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EWR to MCO · Orlando | 658 | 72.6% | 75 min | 3.34% | C− |
| EWR to ATL · Atlanta | 565 | 80.0% | 90 min | 3.89% | B− |
| EWR to ORD · Chicago | 510 | 65.6% | 98 min | 5.49% | C− |
| EWR to FLL · Fort Lauderdale | 494 | 72.0% | 77 min | 4.45% | C− |
| EWR to PBI · West Palm Beach | 409 | 77.7% | 66 min | 2.44% | B |
| EWR to MIA · Miami | 396 | 75.4% | 88 min | 2.53% | B |
| EWR to SFO · San Francisco | 376 | 81.2% | 85 min | 1.33% | B |
| EWR to LAX · Los Angeles | 366 | 79.8% | 87 min | 2.46% | B |
| EWR to CLT · Charlottethin sample | 359 | 81.4% | 90 min | 2.23% | B |
| EWR to BOS · Bostonthin sample | 353 | 73.0% | 53 min | 2.27% | C |
| EWR to DTW · Detroitthin sample | 323 | 80.1% | 70 min | 4.95% | B− |
| EWR to IAH · Houstonthin sample | 310 | 80.0% | 89 min | 2.90% | B |
| EWR to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worththin sample | 301 | 80.0% | 93 min | 1.00% | B |
| EWR to LAS · Las Vegasthin sample | 279 | 85.5% | 69 min | 1.08% | A |
| EWR to DEN · Denverthin sample | 275 | 82.3% | 79 min | 1.09% | B |
| EWR to TPA · Tampathin sample | 246 | 82.9% | 76 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| EWR to RSW · Fort Myersthin sample | 229 | 77.1% | 68 min | 0.87% | B+ |
| EWR to PHX · Phoenixthin sample | 215 | 87.7% | 68 min | 0.93% | A+ |
| EWR to AUS · Austinthin sample | 205 | 83.0% | 65 min | 1.95% | B |
| EWR to SJU · San Juanthin sample | 188 | 73.3% | 84 min | 0.53% | C+ |
| EWR to IND · Indianapolisthin sample | 182 | 79.1% | 100 min | 2.75% | B |
| EWR to MSP · Minneapolisthin sample | 180 | 78.6% | 73 min | 6.67% | B− |
| EWR to CLE · Clevelandthin sample | 179 | 79.7% | 54 min | 1.12% | B |
| EWR to RDU · Raleighthin sample | 175 | 73.0% | 60 min | 0.57% | C+ |
| EWR to SLC · Salt Lake Citythin sample | 167 | 72.1% | 60 min | 1.20% | C |
Delay causes
What held EWR up in March
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 176,000 reported delay minutes.
- 39%Late-arriving aircraft
- 29%National Airspace System
- 27%Carrier
- 5%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 176,000 reported delay minutes here, that single category outweighs weather by 8 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 176,425 reported delay minutes.
Cancellations sit at 2.32% against a national 2.90%, which is ordinary. Diversions add another 0.33%.
For anyone connecting, the number to weigh is not the on-time rate but the tail behind it. 9.0% of arrivals land a full hour or more behind schedule, against 9.5% nationally. A 45-minute layover does not survive that, and no amount of walking quickly changes it. Ninety minutes is the honest minimum here, and two hours if the onward flight is on a separate ticket.
What to do with this
Flying from EWR in March
For a March trip through EWR: expect 77.7% on time and 2.32% cancelled, going by March 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 January78.8%
- EWR in February81.8%
- 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.