Route profile
IAD→EWR
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Washington to Newark, 212 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 4,626 flights. How this is calculated
IAD → EWR arrives on time 73.4% of the time; the return trip, EWR → IAD, arrives on time 74.0% of the time.
IAD → EWR spends 35.1 minutes on the ground on a 212-mile trip: 25.4 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at IAD and 9.6 minutes from touchdown to gate at EWR.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What stands out
On-time performance swings unusually widely by time of day here, wider than 98% of 4,023 comparable routes.
87.9% on time for 5–9 AM departures, against 51.0% for 3–6 PM.
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 4,023 in the comparison.
What sets this route apart
Where IAD to EWR differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
IAD to EWR struggles most at 5 PM: 51.6% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 17.6 points behind the 69.2% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 18.2 points.
IAD to EWR is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 6 AM: 94.7% arrive on time, 3 points ahead of the 91.7% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 3.9 points.
Tuesday is the day IAD to EWR slips furthest against routes of similar length, 75.1% on time where they average 81.8%, 6.7 points lower. Against all other routes the gap is 6.5 points.
In May, IAD to EWR runs 11.7 points below routes of similar length, 63.3% on time to 75.0%. Against all other routes the gap is 12 points.
United Airlines’ flights on IAD to EWR arrive on time 72.9% of the time, 5.6 points below the 78.5% it manages on its routes of similar length. Against all other routes the gap is 7 points.
IAD to EWR against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 5 PM departures | 51.6% | routes of similar length | 69.2% | −17.6 pts | 1,057 here, 47,983 there |
| Hour: 6 AM departures | 94.7% | routes of similar length | 91.7% | +3.0 pts | 979 here, 47,645 there |
| Weekday: Tuesday | 75.1% | routes of similar length | 81.8% | −6.7 pts | 655 here, 92,755 there |
| Month: May | 63.3% | routes of similar length | 75.0% | −11.7 pts | 387 here, 54,668 there |
| Airline: United Airlines | 72.9% | routes of similar length | 78.5% | −5.6 pts | 4,082 here, 63,473 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 212 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 IAD → EWR flights are cancelled
July 2023 – July 2026
IAD → EWR cancelled 130 of 4,626 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 36. The reason filed most often was extreme weather, 68.5% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 52 scheduled flights.
Share of cancellations
Of 130 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.
89 cancellations, 68.5% of the total.
Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.
32 cancellations, 24.6% of the total.
Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.
9 cancellations, 6.9% 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.
130 coded cancellations were recorded on IAD → EWR; the section appears from 50.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
72 min late
against a median of 5 min early
IAD → EWR has an average that understates its risk: a typical arrival is 5 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 4,626 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at EWR after arriving from IAD.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 41% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 26% | High risk |
| 60 min | 18% | High risk |
| 90 min | 11% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 8.2% | 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 2.81% of the time and diverts 0.11% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 4,491 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 72 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 4,626 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
IAD → EWR flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 87.9% of the time, against 51.0% for 3–6 PM departures, a gap of 36.9 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 5 AM: too few flights to score
- 6 AM: 94.7% on time from 998 flights
- 7 AM: too few flights to score
- 8 AM: 81.0% on time from 1,016 flights
- 9 AM to 11 AM: too few flights to score
- 12 PM: 69.7% on time from 154 flights
- 1 PM to 4 PM: too few flights to score
- 5 PM: 51.6% on time from 1,102 flights
- 6 PM to 9 PM: too few flights to score
- 10 PM: 70.2% on time from 1,124 flights
- 11 PM: too few flights to score
Departure windows with fewer than 120 flights are not scored.
Why IAD → EWR runs late
July 2023 – July 2026
airspace and airport capacity, including weather-driven flow control
the inbound aircraft was late, so this flight started late
crew, maintenance, boarding and fueling, all within the carrier’s control
weather severe enough to stop this flight specifically
Share of the delay minutes US DOT attributed to each cause for IAD → EWR. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed.
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 | 4,182 | 72.9% | 2.27% | -5 min | 11.7% |
| Republic Airways | 444 | 78.7% | 7.88% | -10 min | 10.8% |
United Airlines flew 90.4% of the 4,626 flights listed. Republic Airways cancelled 7.88% of its flights here against 2.27% for United Airlines.
Republic Airways arrived on time 5.8 percentage points more often than United Airlines on this route.
Other ways to fly Washington to New York
Airport pairs in the same two city markets, as the DOT defines them.
| Route | Flights | On time | Cancelled | Median delay | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DCA→LGA Washington to New York | 14,236 | 74.0% | 4.52% | -6 min | 40 |
| IAD→EWR this route Washington to Newark | 4,626 | 73.4% | 2.81% | -5 min | 42 |
Flying to EWR from the Washington area? Compare IAD, DCA, BWI for EWR, with the same test for what counts as a real difference.
Flights on this route
Flight numbers with at least 600 operations here and still on the schedule.
| Flight | Scheduled | Operations | On time |
|---|---|---|---|
| UA1997 United Airlines | 10:30 PM | 628 | 63.7% |
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Wednesday is historically the most reliable day and Friday the least, a gap of 6.0 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 79.7%
- Feb: 83.8%
- Mar: 80.1%
- Apr: 70.6%
- May: 63.3%
- Jun: 67.8%
- Jul: 60.9%
- Aug: 70.4%
- Sep: 77.0%
- Oct: 81.0%
- Nov: 76.4%
- Dec: 76.2%
July is historically the weakest month and February the strongest, a spread of 22.9 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 61.9% from 137 flights
- August 2023: 80.4% from 155 flights
- September 2023: 82.3% from 132 flights
- October 2023: 92.1% from 165 flights
- November 2023: 88.0% from 126 flights
- December 2023: 87.8% from 132 flights
- January 2024: too few flights to score (93)
- February 2024: too few flights to score (102)
- March 2024: 87.6% from 122 flights
- April 2024: too few flights to score (104)
- May 2024: too few flights to score (119)
- June 2024: too few flights to score (115)
- July 2024: 58.8% from 120 flights
- August 2024: too few flights to score (118)
- September 2024: too few flights to score (113)
- October 2024: 74.4% from 122 flights
- November 2024: too few flights to score (117)
- December 2024: too few flights to score (115)
- January 2025: too few flights to score (115)
- February 2025: too few flights to score (111)
- March 2025: 76.6% from 128 flights
- April 2025: 56.2% from 143 flights
- May 2025: 32.8% from 144 flights
- June 2025: 55.4% from 122 flights
- July 2025: 53.9% from 124 flights
- August 2025: 60.2% from 124 flights
- September 2025: 71.3% from 122 flights
- October 2025: 72.6% from 124 flights
- November 2025: too few flights to score (117)
- December 2025: 75.2% from 125 flights
- January 2026: 82.8% from 124 flights
- February 2026: too few flights to score (112)
- March 2026: 76.2% from 124 flights
- April 2026: 89.2% from 120 flights
- May 2026: 89.4% from 135 flights
- June 2026: 78.9% from 150 flights
- July 2026: 67.4% from 155 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 76.2% against 64.6% in the 12 months before — improving by 11.6 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 4,626 IAD → EWR 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