Airport month record
EWROCT
Newark Liberty International in October 2025
- Departures
- 10,578
- Month
- October 2025
- National, same month
- 79.7%
- Carriers
- 10
Historical statistics for October 2025, not live status or a forecast for this year’s October. For today’s conditions at EWR, see live FAA status.
EWR in October sits in the middle of the pack with a C. About seven flights in ten arrive on time by the DOT's definition, 9 points worse than the national rate of 79.7%. The late ones land about an hour behind schedule. That rests on 10,578 flights, of which American Airlines flew 523 at 77.7% on time.
American Airlines is the most reliable of the six carriers covered here at 77.7% on time across 523 flights.
Key figures
On time
71.0%
Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 10,449 completed departures
Avg delay
62 min
Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights
Cancelled
1.01%
Nationally in October: 0.53%
Whole year
77.7%
EWR across all twelve months
These figures cover 10,578 departures from Newark Liberty International in October 2025. 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
October next to EWR's other months
Against EWR's own year, October ran 7 points worse than the twelve-month rate of 77.7%, which makes it number ten of twelve months, best first. Cancellations were unusually low for EWR in October, at 1.01% against 3.03% across the year. Either side of it, September ran 82.7% on time and November 73.9%, 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 (this page) | 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 | 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 October
Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 28 points, against 9 points between the best and worst carrier. Each bar is the on-time rate for flights scheduled inside that window.
- 5am–8am1,836 flights88.0%
- 8am–11am1,910 flights65.4%
- 11am–2pm1,538 flights69.4%
- 2pm–5pm2,058 flights72.4%
- 5pm–8pm1,937 flights67.4%
- 8pm–5am1,299 flights59.8%
Scale runs 50% to 95%. Rows with fewer than 30 flights show a dash.
The 8pm–5am window is where this operation falls apart: 59.8% on time, against 88.0% for the 5am–8am slot. By evening the aircraft flying these rotations have absorbed a full day of small delays and there is no slack left to recover in. The 2pm–5pm window is the busiest, with 2,058 flights scheduled in it.
Across the week, Wednesday is the strongest day at 80.4% on time and Sunday the weakest at 63.4%. 17 points is a smaller lever than departure hour, but it is free.
Carrier by carrier
Which airlines ran best at EWR in October
The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. American Airlines arrives on time 77.7% of the time; United Airlines manages 68.9%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 5,739 flights means less than a ten-point one.
| Airline | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| United Airlines | 5,739 | 68.9% | 62 min | 0.59% | C+ |
| Republic Airways | 2,111 | 76.6% | 50 min | 1.33% | B |
| Spirit Airlines | 730 | 69.9% | 68 min | 2.47% | C |
| Delta Air Lines | 598 | 69.2% | 70 min | 1.51% | C |
| American Airlines | 523 | 77.7% | 92 min | 1.53% | B |
| JetBlue Airways | 365 | 73.1% | 63 min | 1.10% | C |
| Alaska Airlinesthin sample | 301 | 67.7% | 57 min | 1.66% | C |
| Frontier Airlinesthin sample | 92 | 65.9% | 58 min | 1.09% | C |
| Envoy Airthin sample | 62 | 53.2% | 60 min | 0.00% | F+ |
| Allegiant Airthin sample | 57 | 70.2% | 51 min | 0.00% | C+ |
American leads United by 9 points. Real, but small enough that a better departure time on the weaker carrier can outweigh it.
Route by route
Busiest routes out of EWR in October
| Route | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EWR to MCO · Orlando | 540 | 71.5% | 63 min | 0.74% | C+ |
| EWR to ATL · Atlanta | 536 | 71.1% | 70 min | 1.12% | C |
| EWR to ORD · Chicago | 502 | 60.2% | 51 min | 0.40% | D+ |
| EWR to LAX · Los Angeles | 482 | 65.7% | 63 min | 1.04% | C |
| EWR to SFO · San Francisco | 389 | 64.8% | 67 min | 0.77% | D+ |
| EWR to FLL · Fort Lauderdale | 365 | 71.1% | 62 min | 1.92% | C |
| EWR to DTW · Detroitthin sample | 347 | 72.9% | 56 min | 1.15% | C |
| EWR to IAH · Houstonthin sample | 336 | 73.1% | 64 min | 0.30% | C+ |
| EWR to BOS · Bostonthin sample | 332 | 50.3% | 69 min | 3.01% | F− |
| EWR to CLT · Charlottethin sample | 323 | 76.3% | 66 min | 0.62% | B+ |
| EWR to MIA · Miamithin sample | 307 | 75.3% | 71 min | 0.98% | B+ |
| EWR to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worththin sample | 307 | 79.1% | 105 min | 1.95% | B |
| EWR to DEN · Denverthin sample | 300 | 70.6% | 57 min | 0.33% | C+ |
| EWR to LAS · Las Vegasthin sample | 250 | 69.9% | 60 min | 0.00% | C+ |
| EWR to PBI · West Palm Beachthin sample | 236 | 71.7% | 65 min | 1.69% | C |
| EWR to TPA · Tampathin sample | 219 | 72.1% | 55 min | 0.00% | C+ |
| EWR to PHX · Phoenixthin sample | 207 | 68.6% | 80 min | 0.00% | C+ |
| EWR to SEA · Seattlethin sample | 206 | 72.6% | 58 min | 1.94% | C |
| EWR to MSP · Minneapolisthin sample | 202 | 69.8% | 72 min | 1.49% | C |
| EWR to BNA · Nashvillethin sample | 190 | 60.8% | 58 min | 0.53% | D+ |
| EWR to CMH · Columbusthin sample | 189 | 83.5% | 60 min | 3.17% | B− |
| EWR to IND · Indianapolisthin sample | 187 | 76.1% | 51 min | 1.60% | B |
| EWR to AUS · Austinthin sample | 185 | 75.5% | 71 min | 0.54% | B+ |
| EWR to CLE · Clevelandthin sample | 185 | 71.4% | 75 min | 0.00% | C+ |
| EWR to PIT · Pittsburghthin sample | 185 | 79.6% | 48 min | 2.16% | B |
Delay causes
What held EWR up in October
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 188,000 reported delay minutes.
- 37%National Airspace System
- 34%Late-arriving aircraft
- 25%Carrier
- 3%Extreme weather
- 0%Security
34% 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 188,000 reported delay minutes here, that single category outweighs weather by 10 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 188,197 reported delay minutes.
Cancellations sit at 1.01% against a national 0.53%, which is ordinary. Diversions add another 0.21%.
For anyone connecting, the number to weigh is not the on-time rate but the tail behind it. 9.1% of arrivals land a full hour or more behind schedule, against 6.3% 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 October
For a October trip through EWR: plan on this being one of the airport's harder months. The 5am–8am departures held up best at 88.0% on time, and with 9.1% of arrivals an hour or more late, a connection here deserves more slack than the same trip in May would.
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 November73.9%
- EWR in December70.5%
- EWR in January78.8%
- 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.