A report from the travel site milecards.com analyzed 10 years of Department of Transportation data and found that Newark Liberty International Airport ranks lowest in on-time performance among U.S. airports during the busy summer travel months. Over the 2007–2016 summer periods examined, Newark averaged just 66.5% of flights operating on schedule.
New York’s LaGuardia Airport ranked second-worst for summer punctuality, and John F. Kennedy International Airport placed fourth. San Francisco International Airport recorded the third-lowest percentage of on-time arrivals among major U.S. airports.
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates Newark, LaGuardia and JFK, said it has been coordinating with the Federal Aviation Administration to implement NextGen, a modernized air-traffic control system intended to reduce delays and improve efficiency.
“New York area airports came at the bottom of the list consistently for that entire 10-year period,” said Brian Karimzad, director of milecards.com. “Summer is actually one of the worst times of the year to be flying when it comes to delays. In fact, at Kennedy and LaGuardia you’ll see more delays in the summer than during the dead of winter.”
The milecards.com analysis used DOT data for the summer travel window from 2007 through 2016 and shows that most U.S. airports experience worse delays in summer than in winter. June emerged as the single worst month for summer air-travel delays. Rankings took into account on-time arrivals as well as taxiing time on the runway and the time required to reach the gate after landing.
At the other end of the spectrum, Kahului Airport and Daniel K. Inouye International Airport (Honolulu) posted the best on-time performance for summer travel, with approximately 88% and 86.5% of flights arriving on time, respectively. Summer is generally a lower-traffic season for interisland travel in Hawai‘i, which helps those airports maintain stronger on-time records.
Other airports that showed strong summer punctuality include Salt Lake City International Airport, John Wayne Airport (Orange County), and Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, all of which reported above-average on-time rates during the summer months.