Route profile
EWR→BOS
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Newark to Boston, 200 miles.
Right now
Aviation weather is not currently a factor.
Aviation weather is not currently a factor.
Route reliability
July 2023 – July 2026
Better than 5% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 12,190 flights. How this is calculated
EWR → BOS arrives on time 74.3% of the time; the return trip, BOS → EWR, arrives on time 77.3% of the time, a 3.1-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
EWR → BOS spends 32.3 minutes on the ground on a 200-mile trip: 24.8 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at EWR and 7.6 minutes from touchdown to gate at BOS.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What stands out
This route's worst arrivals run unusually far past its typical one, a bigger gap than 95% of 4,598 comparable routes.
A typical arrival is 8 min early, but the worst tenth run 77 minutes worse than that.
Source: FlyerIntel analysis of US DOT BTS data · July 2023 – July 2026 · Ranked against every other route with the same kind of figure and at least 4,598 in the comparison.
Why EWR → BOS flights are cancelled
July 2023 – July 2026
EWR → BOS cancelled 435 of 12,190 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 28. The reason filed most often was extreme weather, 49.7% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 56 scheduled flights.
Share of cancellations
Of 435 cancelled departures carrying a reason code.
What each reason means
Conditions the carrier judged severe enough to stop the flight: a blizzard, a hurricane, a line of thunderstorms.
216 cancellations, 49.7% of the total.
Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.
146 cancellations, 33.6% of the total.
Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.
73 cancellations, 16.8% of the total.
A terminal evacuation, a security breach, screening equipment failure, or screening queues over 29 minutes.
0 cancellations, 0.0% of the total.
Reason codes are the operating airline’s own filing with US DOT, not an independent finding of fault. Ordinary bad weather is filed under air traffic, so weather’s full share is larger than its bar.
435 coded cancellations were recorded on EWR → BOS; the section appears from 50.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
69 min late
against a median of 8 min early
EWR → BOS has an average that understates its risk: a typical arrival is 8 min early, but the worst tenth are 77 minutes worse than that. If the trip has something unmissable at the end of it, the median is the wrong number to plan against.
Percentiles over 12,190 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at BOS after arriving from EWR.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 36% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 25% | High risk |
| 60 min | 19% | High risk |
| 90 min | 12% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 7.3% | Some risk |
This is one leg of a connection. Gate changes and the next flight's own schedule matter too. And a connection can fail before delay is even the question — this route cancels 3.57% of the time and diverts 0.03% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 11,751 arrivals on this route that landed later than the connection time less 30 minutes to reach the next gate.
The worst tenth of arrivals on this route land at least 69 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 12,190 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
EWR → BOS flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 88.6% of the time, against 61.7% for 6–9 PM departures, a gap of 26.9 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 5 AM: too few flights to score
- 6 AM: 92.6% on time from 445 flights
- 7 AM: 89.5% on time from 839 flights
- 8 AM: 86.7% on time from 1,219 flights
- 9 AM: 86.0% on time from 769 flights
- 10 AM: 85.4% on time from 494 flights
- 11 AM: 81.3% on time from 696 flights
- 12 PM: 83.7% on time from 457 flights
- 1 PM: 77.0% on time from 636 flights
- 2 PM: 74.7% on time from 787 flights
- 3 PM: 61.8% on time from 1,381 flights
- 4 PM: 65.4% on time from 936 flights
- 5 PM: 68.6% on time from 494 flights
- 6 PM: 60.3% on time from 531 flights
- 7 PM: 61.9% on time from 959 flights
- 8 PM: 62.3% on time from 743 flights
- 9 PM: 62.2% on time from 617 flights
- 10 PM: 69.2% on time from 136 flights
- 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why EWR → BOS runs late
July 2023 – July 2026
the inbound aircraft was late, so this flight started late
airspace and airport capacity, including weather-driven flow control
crew, maintenance, boarding and fueling, all within the carrier’s control
weather severe enough to stop this flight specifically
screening or terminal security incidents
Share of the delay minutes US DOT attributed to each cause for EWR → BOS. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed.
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on EWR → BOS, at 40.4%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 88.6% of the time and 6–9 PM departures 61.7%.
How this route holds up in bad weather
July 2023 – July 2026
Bad weather raises cancellations by a similar amount at both ends of EWR to BOS: 3.3 times the normal rate at EWR and 3.9 times at BOS. Cancelled in bad weather against normal hours: EWR 6.9% against 2.1%, BOS 5.3% against 1.4%. Flights that did leave BOS in bad weather arrived on time 65.1% of the time, against 79.7% in normal hours.
Bad weather and normal hours at the airports
Scheduled departures, July 2023 – July 2026| Departures from | EWR | BOS |
|---|---|---|
| Cancelled in bad weather | 6.9% | 5.3% |
| Cancelled in normal hours | 2.1% | 1.4% |
| Arrived on time, bad weather | 65.8% | 65.1% |
| Arrived on time, normal hours | 80.0% | 79.7% |
| Departures in bad weather | 51,613 | 60,840 |
Of the carriers on this route, United Airlines (5.3% cancelled against 8.9% for the other carriers at EWR) cancelled the fewest departures from EWR in bad weather and Republic Airways (11.8% cancelled against 6.1% for the other carriers at EWR) the most.
This route’s airlines in bad weather at EWR
All departures from EWR| Airline | Bad-weather departures | Cancelled | Other carriers |
|---|---|---|---|
| United Airlines | 28,226 | 5.3%below the others | 8.9% |
| Spirit Airlines | 3,882 | 8.7%above the others | 6.4% |
| Republic Airways | 9,298 | 11.8%above the others | 6.1% |
These are airport figures, not route figures: every scheduled departure from EWR and BOS, to any destination, in hours the weather report called bad. The airline rows count each carrier’s departures from EWR on every route.
Weather source and limits. In full: EWR (airlines), BOS, What Weather Costs Each Airport, Who Cancels More When the Weather Turns, Airports That Change Places When Weather Turns.
Airlines on this route
Carriers with at least 200 flights, by the airline that operated each one.
| Carrier | Flights | On time | Cancelled | Median delay | Severe |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| United Airlines | 8,370 | 73.5% | 2.89% | -7 min | 12.2% |
| Republic Airways | 3,397 | 76.3% | 4.62% | -10 min | 10.5% |
| Spirit Airlines | 388 | 72.1% | 8.51% | -11 min | 14.9% |
United Airlines flew 68.9% of the 12,155 flights listed. Spirit Airlines cancelled 8.51% of its flights here against 2.89% for United Airlines.
Republic Airways arrived on time 4.2 percentage points more often than Spirit Airlines on this route.
Other ways to fly New York to Boston
Airport pairs in the same two city markets, as the DOT defines them.
LGA → BOS is the most reliable pairing for this journey at 78.7% on time, against 74.3% for EWR → BOS.
Flying to BOS from the New York area? Compare EWR, LGA, JFK for BOS, with the same test for what counts as a real difference.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Saturday is historically the most reliable day and Thursday the least, a gap of 8.6 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 82.6%
- Feb: 82.3%
- Mar: 77.4%
- Apr: 75.6%
- May: 71.5%
- Jun: 73.9%
- Jul: 63.5%
- Aug: 72.5%
- Sep: 68.3%
- Oct: 73.6%
- Nov: 78.2%
- Dec: 77.7%
July is historically the weakest month and January the strongest, a spread of 19.1 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 67.0% from 335 flights
- August 2023: 76.5% from 296 flights
- September 2023: 75.0% from 327 flights
- October 2023: 89.2% from 353 flights
- November 2023: 89.0% from 290 flights
- December 2023: 88.8% from 234 flights
- January 2024: 80.9% from 285 flights
- February 2024: 90.4% from 296 flights
- March 2024: 80.5% from 342 flights
- April 2024: 75.0% from 344 flights
- May 2024: 70.6% from 404 flights
- June 2024: 72.7% from 404 flights
- July 2024: 62.2% from 405 flights
- August 2024: 71.1% from 398 flights
- September 2024: 75.0% from 403 flights
- October 2024: 78.0% from 442 flights
- November 2024: 73.5% from 339 flights
- December 2024: 69.7% from 300 flights
- January 2025: 85.8% from 309 flights
- February 2025: 75.9% from 300 flights
- March 2025: 78.8% from 342 flights
- April 2025: 70.1% from 308 flights
- May 2025: 56.4% from 262 flights
- June 2025: 73.6% from 275 flights
- July 2025: 59.3% from 331 flights
- August 2025: 70.3% from 330 flights
- September 2025: 54.0% from 336 flights
- October 2025: 50.3% from 332 flights
- November 2025: 73.0% from 327 flights
- December 2025: 76.9% from 277 flights
- January 2026: 80.8% from 296 flights
- February 2026: 80.5% from 302 flights
- March 2026: 73.0% from 353 flights
- April 2026: 81.0% from 347 flights
- May 2026: 82.9% from 348 flights
- June 2026: 75.7% from 327 flights
- July 2026: 66.4% from 291 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 72.0% against 72.6% in the 12 months before — broadly unchanged.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 12,190 EWR → BOS flight records from the US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics, covering July 2023 – July 2026. Late means 15 or more minutes past scheduled arrival; cancelled and diverted flights are left out of on-time rates.
Full methodology · Data sources · Report a problem
Related research: How Long a Layover Needs to Be · Two Airlines on One Route · Best Time of Day to Fly From Major US Airports
Analysis last recomputed