Holiday travel
Christmas to New Year’s at EWR
Newark Liberty International Airport, Newark, NJ. July 2023 – July 2026. Set against EWR’s own ordinary days of the same weekday in the weeks around each holiday.
The window, year by year
The window runs December 23 through January 2, around Christmas Day (December 25). In the data: Dec 23, 2023 – Jan 2, 2024; Dec 23, 2024 – Jan 2, 2025; Dec 23, 2025 – Jan 2, 2026. Christmas Day fell on a Monday in 2023, Wednesday in 2024, and Thursday in 2025. Three windows are in the data: enough to see whether a day repeats, not enough to call it a rule.
Compared with ordinary days, Christmas to New Year’s flights were better in one and worse in two of the three years. The gap ran from 12.8 points below usual in 2025 to 7.3 points above usual in 2023.
1.70% of scheduled departures were cancelled across the Christmas to New Year’s windows, against 2.17% on ordinary days of the same weekdays. It was lower in two of the three years and higher in one.
| Year | Departures | On time | Usual | Gap, points | Cancelled | Usual |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023Dec 23, 2023 – Jan 2, 2024 | 3,469 | 84.9% | 77.6% | +7.3better | 0.14% | 2.36% |
| 2024Dec 23, 2024 – Jan 2, 2025 | 3,663 | 75.3% | 79.2% | −3.9worse | 0.63% | 2.08% |
| 2025Dec 23, 2025 – Jan 2, 2026 | 3,670 | 66.7% | 79.5% | −12.8worse | 4.25% | 2.09% |
| All years3 windows | 10,802 | 75.6% | 78.8% | −3.2worse | 1.70% | 2.17% |
Day by day
December 27 (Wed, Fri, Sat) was the worst day of the window in two of the three years. Over the years it ran 59.7% on time, 20.9 points below what ordinary days of the same weekdays had.
Christmas Day was the best day of the window in two of the three years. Over the years it ran 91.4% on time, 10.5 points above what ordinary days of the same weekdays had.
Christmas Day itself carried 11% fewer departures than an ordinary day of the same weekday and ran 91.4% on time.
- Better than usual
- Worse than usual
- About the same
- What ordinary days of the same weekday had
- Lowest to highest single year
- Lighter bars: days just outside the window
Bars show the on-time arrival rate and start at 30%, not zero.
| Day | Departures against an ordinary day | On time | Usual | Gap, points | Cancelled | Each year: 2023, 2024, 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 19Tue, Thu, Fri · outside the window | about the same | 73.7% | 80.8% | −7.1worse | 1.45% | 90.6 · 82.4 · 48.4 |
| Dec 20Wed, Fri, Sat · outside the window | 3% more | 71.3% | 80.5% | −9.2worse | 1.46% | 91.6 · 51.7 · 70.4 |
| Dec 21Thu, Sat, Sun · outside the window | about the same | 67.4% | 75.6% | −8.2worse | 0.30% | 89.5 · 43.2 · 69.2 |
| Dec 22Fri, Sun, Mon · outside the window | 2% fewer | 79.8% | 75.0% | +4.8better | 0.20% | 90.0 · 67.5 · 82.7 |
| Dec 23Sat, Mon, Tue | about the same | 75.1% | 78.2% | −3.1worse | 0.10% | 89.4 · 82.9 · 54.1 |
| Dec 24Sun, Tue, Wed | 9% fewer | 77.7% | 77.7% | 0.0about the same | 0.22% | 91.5 · 57.1 · 85.0 |
| Christmas Day (Dec 25)Mon, Wed, Thu | 11% fewer | 91.4% | 80.9% | +10.5better | 0.00% | 95.2 · 93.2 · 86.2 |
| Dec 26Tue, Thu, Fri | 2% fewer | 71.0% | 80.8% | −9.8worse | 8.15% | 77.7 · 77.9 · 53.6 |
| Dec 27Wed, Fri, Sat | about the same | 59.7% | 80.6% | −20.9worse | 5.69% | 67.5 · 71.8 · 34.9 |
| Dec 28Thu, Sat, Sun | about the same | 64.1% | 75.6% | −11.5worse | 0.80% | 73.4 · 65.5 · 53.8 |
| Dec 29Fri, Sun, Mon | 3% fewer | 66.9% | 75.1% | −8.2worse | 1.86% | 84.3 · 52.9 · 63.6 |
| Dec 30Sat, Mon, Tue | about the same | 80.7% | 78.2% | +2.5about the same | 0.50% | 85.3 · 81.2 · 76.0 |
| Dec 31Sun, Tue, Wed | 7% fewer | 84.5% | 77.7% | +6.8better | 0.42% | 93.0 · 81.4 · 79.6 |
| Jan 1Mon, Wed, Thu | 8% fewer | 76.4% | 80.9% | −4.5worse | 0.21% | 92.4 · 79.8 · 58.5 |
| Jan 2Tue, Thu, Fri | 2% fewer | 84.5% | 80.8% | +3.7better | 0.30% | 87.2 · 83.8 · 82.7 |
| Jan 3Wed, Fri, Sat · outside the window | about the same | 80.4% | 80.4% | 0.0about the same | 1.61% | 88.2 · 79.6 · 73.2 |
| Jan 4Thu, Sat, Sun · outside the window | 2% fewer | 76.7% | 75.5% | +1.2about the same | 0.51% | 95.9 · 69.3 · 65.7 |
| Jan 5Fri, Sun, Mon · outside the window | 3% fewer | 78.3% | 75.0% | +3.3better | 1.29% | 91.1 · 71.9 · 72.9 |
A dash means fewer than 120 flights stood behind the figure, or behind the ordinary days it would be compared with: too few to print a rate, and nothing is estimated in its place. “Usual” is what ordinary days of the same weekday had at the same place in the weeks around the holiday, weighted by the flights being compared.
Which departure times held up
The busiest days at EWR were Thursday, Dec 28, 2023 (333 departures), Friday, Dec 29, 2023 (332 departures), Monday, Dec 23, 2024 (351 departures), Thursday, Dec 26, 2024 (345 departures), Friday, Dec 26, 2025 (343 departures), and Monday, Dec 29, 2025 (344 departures).
Across the whole window, flights leaving 5–9 AM had the highest on-time rate: 81.6%, still 3.0 points below usual for that time of day. Those leaving 9 PM–5 AM had the lowest: 66.7%, 6.7 points below usual for that time of day.
Against usual for their time of day, flights leaving 3–6 PM did best (+1.5 points) and those leaving 9 AM–12 PM did worst (−9.6 points).
On each year’s two busiest days, flights leaving 5–9 AM had the highest on-time rate: 83.8%, still 3.0 points below usual for that time of day. Those leaving 9 PM–5 AM had the lowest: 61.9%, 11.0 points below usual for that time of day.
The holiday cost flights leaving 9 AM–12 PM the most (14.3 points below usual for that time of day) and those leaving 3–6 PM the least (1.3 points below).
| Leaving | On time, whole window | Usual | Gap, points | On time, busiest days | Usual | Gap, points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5–9 AM | 81.6% | 84.6% | −3.0worse | 83.8% | 86.8% | −3.0about the same |
| 9 AM–12 PM | 72.6% | 82.2% | −9.6worse | 68.6% | 82.9% | −14.3worse |
| 12–3 PM | 75.2% | 81.0% | −5.8worse | 70.4% | 82.9% | −12.5worse |
| 3–6 PM | 77.6% | 76.1% | +1.5about the same | 75.3% | 76.6% | −1.3about the same |
| 6–9 PM | 72.0% | 71.1% | +0.9about the same | 68.2% | 69.6% | −1.4about the same |
| 9 PM–5 AM | 66.7% | 73.4% | −6.7worse | 61.9% | 72.9% | −11.0worse |
Cancellations
The worst day for cancellations in each year was Sunday, Dec 29, 2024 (2.92% of that day’s departures, 43% of the window’s cancellations) and Friday, Dec 26, 2025 (23.03% of that day’s departures, 51% of the window’s cancellations).
EWR beside every covered airport
Storms and outages move whole regions at once. This puts EWR’s year beside the year of all covered airports together, each against its own usual, to show whether EWR did better or worse than the network.
| Year | EWR on time | EWR, gap from usual | All airports on time | All airports, gap from usual |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023Dec 23, 2023 – Jan 2, 2024 | 84.9% | +7.3 | 81.0% | +2.2 |
| 2024Dec 23, 2024 – Jan 2, 2025 | 75.3% | −3.9 | 76.2% | −3.4 |
| 2025Dec 23, 2025 – Jan 2, 2026 | 66.7% | −12.8 | 71.1% | −8.5 |
For every holiday at once, see the five holidays at EWR, or the network view.