by Lacey Pfalz
Last updated: 10:20 AM ET, Tue June 2, 2026
Despite last year's challenges, Newark Liberty International (EWR) is now leading all major airports in the northeast in on-time flights during the first half of 2026.
United Airlines, Newark's biggest carrier, flew about 5.8 million passengers in April and May, achieving its best-ever on-time rate at Newark. United flew a record three million passengers across the Memorial Day holiday at all airports.
Last year, the airport was especially plagued by runway construction, Air Traffic Control staffing issues and FAA radar and radio outages, impacting thousands of people and numerous flights. It became so bad that the FAA reduced the number of flights that could arrive and depart daily from Newark until the issues were resolved.
United's CEO, Scott Kirby, was at Newark to thank local employees for the shift towards reliability.
"Newark has operated better than it ever has and that's a direct result of the actions taken by Secretary Duffy and the FAA as well as the professionalism, dedication and care of our nearly 15,000 local employees," said Kirby. "Newark is the 'crown jewel' of our international network serving as a global gateway to dozens of international destinations – I'm proud of the work we're doing here, and all across the country, to deliver a great experience and get our customers where they want to go safely and on time."
United flies to 320 cities worldwide from Newark and continues expanding. No other U.S. airline connects travelers to Split, Bari, Glasgow and Santiago de Compostela, all flying from Newark. Additionally, the airline will be the only one in the U.S. to offer nonstop flights between Newark and Seoul, South Korea, beginning September 4.
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