Route profile
EWR→CLE
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Newark to Cleveland, 404 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 27% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 6,282 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
EWR → CLE arrives on time 80.1% of the time; the return trip, CLE → EWR, arrives on time 81.6% of the time.
EWR → CLE spends 31.3 minutes on the ground on a 404-mile trip: 25.0 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at EWR and 6.3 minutes from touchdown to gate at CLE.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What sets this route apart
Where EWR to CLE differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
EWR to CLE is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 2 PM: 85.1% arrive on time, 9.3 points ahead of the 75.8% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 10.5 points.
EWR to CLE holds up on Fridays better than routes of similar length do: 79.3% on time to their 75.6%, a 3.7 points lead. Against all other routes the gap is 3.1 points.
March is kinder to EWR to CLE than to routes of similar length: 85.3% on time against 78.9%, 6.4 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 7.4 points.
In July, EWR to CLE runs 6.2 points below routes of similar length, 64.3% on time to 70.5%. Against all other routes the gap is 5.4 points.
Republic Airways does better on EWR to CLE than on its routes of similar length: 90.2% on time here, 82.0% there, 8.2 points apart. Against all other routes the gap is 8.1 points.
EWR to CLE against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 2 PM departures | 85.1% | routes of similar length | 75.8% | +9.3 pts | 491 here, 77,142 there |
| Weekday: Friday | 79.3% | routes of similar length | 75.6% | +3.7 pts | 912 here, 216,430 there |
| Month: March | 85.3% | routes of similar length | 78.9% | +6.4 pts | 495 here, 114,810 there |
| Month: July | 64.3% | routes of similar length | 70.5% | −6.2 pts | 652 here, 158,091 there |
| Airline: Republic Airways | 90.2% | routes of similar length | 82.0% | +8.2 pts | 1,829 here, 104,172 there |
Each comparison pools the flights of other routes, with this route’s own left out. Similar length means within 15% of this route’s 404 miles, with at least 5 such routes. A bucket is set against the most comparable group that has enough flights: similar length, then the same origin (at least 3 routes), then all other routes. Hours, weekdays and months appear only where both sides have 120 completed flights, and airlines where both have 600. The gap must be at least 2 points and 2 standard errors, and only the largest gap each way is kept per measure. These are differences in the flights counted, not causes.
Why EWR → CLE flights are cancelled
July 2023 – July 2026
EWR → CLE cancelled 175 of 6,282 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 36. The reason filed most often was extreme weather, 70.3% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 51 scheduled flights.
Share of cancellations
Of 175 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.
123 cancellations, 70.3% of the total.
Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.
29 cancellations, 16.6% of the total.
Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.
23 cancellations, 13.1% 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. With only one or two carriers on the route, the split mostly reflects how they file. Ordinary bad weather is filed under air traffic, so weather’s full share is larger than its bar.
175 coded cancellations were recorded on EWR → CLE; the section appears from 50.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
50 min late
against a median of 9 min early
Percentiles over 6,282 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at CLE after arriving from EWR.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 32% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 19% | High risk |
| 60 min | 14% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 8.5% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 5.6% | 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 2.79% of the time and diverts 0.06% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 6,103 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 50 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 6,282 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
EWR → CLE flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 89.7% of the time, against 68.0% for 6–9 PM departures, a gap of 21.7 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 5 AM: too few flights to score
- 6 AM: 92.8% on time from 355 flights
- 7 AM: 90.8% on time from 240 flights
- 8 AM: 87.2% on time from 584 flights
- 9 AM: 91.1% on time from 289 flights
- 10 AM: 91.9% on time from 254 flights
- 11 AM: 86.4% on time from 337 flights
- 12 PM: too few flights to score
- 1 PM: 85.4% on time from 443 flights
- 2 PM: 85.1% on time from 513 flights
- 3 PM: 78.3% on time from 330 flights
- 4 PM: 78.3% on time from 689 flights
- 5 PM: 73.6% on time from 507 flights
- 6 PM: 66.1% on time from 565 flights
- 7 PM: 69.9% on time from 511 flights
- 8 PM: 68.3% on time from 518 flights
- 9 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Departure windows with fewer than 120 flights are not scored.
Why EWR → CLE runs late
July 2023 – July 2026
the inbound aircraft was late, so this flight started late
crew, maintenance, boarding and fueling, all within the carrier’s control
airspace and airport capacity, including weather-driven flow control
weather severe enough to stop this flight specifically
Share of the delay minutes US DOT attributed to each cause for EWR → CLE. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on EWR → CLE, at 52.5%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 89.7% of the time and 6–9 PM departures 68.0%.
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 | 4,391 | 75.9% | 2.60% | -7 min | 11.1% |
| Republic Airways | 1,891 | 90.2% | 3.23% | -12 min | 2.8% |
United Airlines flew 69.9% of the 6,282 flights listed.
Republic Airways arrived on time 14.3 percentage points more often than United Airlines on this route.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Wednesday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 7.0 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 84.5%
- Feb: 85.8%
- Mar: 85.3%
- Apr: 83.3%
- May: 80.1%
- Jun: 73.0%
- Jul: 64.3%
- Aug: 75.8%
- Sep: 83.0%
- Oct: 82.9%
- Nov: 84.2%
- Dec: 83.1%
July is historically the weakest month and February the strongest, a spread of 21.5 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 66.9% from 187 flights
- August 2023: 76.1% from 162 flights
- September 2023: 82.6% from 178 flights
- October 2023: 92.3% from 181 flights
- November 2023: 90.3% from 217 flights
- December 2023: 90.6% from 192 flights
- January 2024: 84.0% from 167 flights
- February 2024: 88.2% from 155 flights
- March 2024: 89.7% from 155 flights
- April 2024: 76.4% from 146 flights
- May 2024: 77.8% from 158 flights
- June 2024: 67.9% from 166 flights
- July 2024: 58.4% from 169 flights
- August 2024: 74.8% from 150 flights
- September 2024: 86.9% from 175 flights
- October 2024: 85.4% from 178 flights
- November 2024: 86.8% from 160 flights
- December 2024: 77.7% from 157 flights
- January 2025: 89.7% from 188 flights
- February 2025: 81.1% from 168 flights
- March 2025: 87.1% from 164 flights
- April 2025: too few flights to score (119)
- May 2025: 66.4% from 120 flights
- June 2025: 70.1% from 128 flights
- July 2025: 60.2% from 179 flights
- August 2025: 76.3% from 173 flights
- September 2025: 79.5% from 172 flights
- October 2025: 71.4% from 185 flights
- November 2025: 74.7% from 190 flights
- December 2025: 80.0% from 192 flights
- January 2026: 79.4% from 191 flights
- February 2026: 88.3% from 168 flights
- March 2026: 79.7% from 179 flights
- April 2026: 92.2% from 179 flights
- May 2026: 91.1% from 182 flights
- June 2026: 79.9% from 175 flights
- July 2026: 72.0% from 177 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 80.3% against 79.3% in the 12 months before — broadly unchanged.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 6,282 EWR → CLE 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