ORD → EWR Flight Reliability

Right now

Origin · ORDNo disruption reported

Aviation weather is not currently a factor.

Updated 08:51 UTC

Chicago airport profile →

Destination · EWRNo disruption reported

Aviation weather is not currently a factor.

Updated 08:51 UTC

Newark airport profile →

Route reliability

July 2023 – July 2026

Route Reliability Score

38/ 100Weak

Better than 3% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)

Calculated from 18,463 flights. How this is calculated

On-time arrivals

71.7%

12,835 of 17,892

Cancellation rate

2.81%

519 cancelled

Median arrival delay

-5 min

Average 15.6 min

Severe delays

13.2%

60+ minutes late

Delay when late

84 min

Average, when 15+ min late

Flights analyzed

18,463

5 carriers

ORD → EWR arrives on time 71.7% of the time; the return trip, EWR → ORD, arrives on time 73.5% of the time.

ORD → EWR spends 35.6 minutes on the ground on a 719-mile trip: 25.9 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at ORD and 9.7 minutes from touchdown to gate at EWR.

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 98% of 4,598 comparable routes.

A typical arrival is 5 min early, but the worst tenth run 84 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 ORD → EWR flights are cancelled

July 2023 – July 2026

ORD → EWR cancelled 519 of 18,463 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 36. The reason filed most often was extreme weather, 66.1% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 54 scheduled flights.

Share of cancellations

Weather66.1%

Air traffic19.8%

Airline14.1%

Security0.0%

Of 519 cancelled departures carrying a reason code.

What each reason means

Extreme weather1 in 54

Conditions the carrier judged severe enough to stop the flight: a blizzard, a hurricane, a line of thunderstorms.

343 cancellations, 66.1% of the total.

The air traffic system1 in 179

Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.

103 cancellations, 19.8% of the total.

The airline1 in 253

Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.

73 cancellations, 14.1% of the total.

Security—

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.

519 coded cancellations were recorded on ORD → EWR; the section appears from 50.

When it goes wrong

July 2023 – July 2026

One arrival in ten is worse than

79 min late

against a median of 5 min early

Arrived an hour or more late13.2%

Typical delay when late84 min

Cancelled2.81%

Landed somewhere else0.28%

ORD → EWR has an average that understates its risk: a typical arrival is 5 min early, but the worst tenth are 84 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 18,463 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.

Will your connection be tight enough?

Layovers at EWR after arriving from ORD.

Connection buffer and chance of missing by layover length, ORD → EWR arrivals
Connection time	Chance of missing	Reads as
30 min	42%	Likely to miss
45 min	28%	High risk
60 min	21%	High risk
90 min	13%	Some risk
120 min	8.5%	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 0.28% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.

Chance of missing is the share of 17,892 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 79 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 18,463 operations.

Any other layover length: connection checker.

Best time to fly

ORD → EWR flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 89.0% of the time, against 58.1% for 6–9 PM departures, a gap of 30.9 percentage points.

By day and hour

On-time arrival rate for each weekday and scheduled departure hour, in local time at the departure airport (ORD).

Hour of departure matters more than day of the week: hourly averages sit a typical 11.1 points from the route-wide rate, weekday averages 2.9 points.

On-time arrival rate for ORD to EWR by weekday and scheduled departure hour, local time. Each button reads out one slot.
Hour	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
6 AM–7 AM
7 AM–8 AM
8 AM–9 AM
9 AM–10 AM
10 AM–11 AM
11 AM–12 PM
12 PM–1 PM
1 PM–2 PM
2 PM–3 PM
3 PM–4 PM
4 PM–5 PM
5 PM–6 PM
6 PM–7 PM
7 PM–8 PM
8 PM–9 PM
9 PM–10 PM

On-time rate, % · stronger color, fewer on time

40–49
50–59
60–69
70–79
80–89
90–99

Fewer than 120 flights, not scored

Source: FlyerIntel analysis of US DOT BTS data · July 2023 – July 2026 · On time is arrival within 15 minutes of schedule. Cells round to whole percentages; the table shows one decimal.

No slot is named best or worst: too few reach 500 flights. Departures before 6 AM and after 10 PM (185 flights) are not drawn: no slot in those hours has enough flights to score.

View as tableHide table

On-time arrival rate (%) with flights beneath, by scheduled departure hour and weekday for ORD to EWR. A dash means fewer than 120 flights, which are not scored.
Hour	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
6 AM–7 AM	93.8% on time179 flights	90.9% on time168 flights	95.2% on time174 flights	92.7% on time180 flights	92.0% on time179 flights	92.0% on time176 flights	89.3% on time180 flights
7 AM–8 AM	83.6% on time216 flights	91.3% on time224 flights	94.0% on time218 flights	88.6% on time213 flights	86.3% on time214 flights	88.5% on time192 flights	88.4% on time211 flights
8 AM–9 AM	86.5% on time153 flights	90.5% on time153 flights	85.9% on time163 flights	82.7% on time151 flights	80.3% on time159 flights	116 flights, too few to score	81.3% on time148 flights
9 AM–10 AM	81.0% on time169 flights	82.2% on time149 flights	83.3% on time150 flights	82.3% on time164 flights	71.3% on time161 flights	80.5% on time128 flights	77.2% on time171 flights
10 AM–11 AM	78.1% on time223 flights	81.3% on time230 flights	78.4% on time233 flights	75.2% on time233 flights	71.6% on time231 flights	72.1% on time203 flights	73.3% on time226 flights
11 AM–12 PM	111 flights, too few to score	112 flights, too few to score	116 flights, too few to score	113 flights, too few to score	111 flights, too few to score	89 flights, too few to score	113 flights, too few to score
12 PM–1 PM	103 flights, too few to score	95 flights, too few to score	95 flights, too few to score	102 flights, too few to score	103 flights, too few to score	110 flights, too few to score	102 flights, too few to score
1 PM–2 PM	63.4% on time224 flights	72.1% on time217 flights	65.1% on time216 flights	57.2% on time218 flights	62.0% on time219 flights	70.5% on time195 flights	63.2% on time214 flights
2 PM–3 PM	68.4% on time199 flights	74.0% on time198 flights	70.4% on time205 flights	65.8% on time195 flights	64.2% on time199 flights	75.9% on time198 flights	62.5% on time195 flights
3 PM–4 PM	71.3% on time137 flights	70.2% on time133 flights	66.7% on time140 flights	54.3% on time133 flights	65.4% on time138 flights	112 flights, too few to score	66.4% on time140 flights
4 PM–5 PM	60.1% on time168 flights	72.4% on time168 flights	66.7% on time167 flights	57.2% on time170 flights	58.3% on time169 flights	59.7% on time124 flights	61.7% on time161 flights
5 PM–6 PM	71.7% on time127 flights	76.5% on time124 flights	59.8% on time125 flights	63.9% on time124 flights	58.5% on time121 flights	93 flights, too few to score	63.5% on time132 flights
6 PM–7 PM	58.8% on time215 flights	58.1% on time203 flights	56.9% on time207 flights	56.0% on time211 flights	58.6% on time221 flights	62.7% on time217 flights	60.3% on time213 flights
7 PM–8 PM	57.0% on time185 flights	72.7% on time190 flights	61.3% on time189 flights	51.1% on time180 flights	60.4% on time187 flights	61.1% on time173 flights	47.4% on time178 flights
8 PM–9 PM	102 flights, too few to score	94 flights, too few to score	95 flights, too few to score	98 flights, too few to score	112 flights, too few to score	88 flights, too few to score	106 flights, too few to score
9 PM–10 PM	69.9% on time163 flights	67.5% on time154 flights	66.4% on time153 flights	64.3% on time159 flights	68.0% on time160 flights	70.7% on time151 flights	65.4% on time163 flights

By departure window

5–9 AM89.0%

9 AM–12 PM76.5%

12–3 PM68.6%

3–6 PM64.1%

6–9 PM58.1%

9 PM–5 AM68.0%

By departure hour

12 AM

3 AM

6 AM

9 AM

12 PM

3 PM

6 PM

9 PM

Why ORD → EWR runs late

July 2023 – July 2026

Air traffic control40.4%

airspace and airport capacity, including weather-driven flow control

Late-arriving aircraft32.3%

the inbound aircraft was late, so this flight started late

The airline19.9%

crew, maintenance, boarding and fueling, all within the carrier’s control

Weather7.4%

weather severe enough to stop this flight specifically

Security<0.1%

screening or terminal security incidents

Share of the delay minutes US DOT attributed to each cause for ORD → EWR. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed.

How this route holds up in bad weather

July 2023 – July 2026

The harder-hit end is the one the flight leaves from, where a cancellation keeps it from departing at all. Bad weather cancels 5.5 times the normal rate at ORD against 3.3 times at EWR. Cancelled in bad weather against normal hours: ORD 6.5% against 1.2%, EWR 6.9% against 2.1%. Flights that did leave ORD in bad weather arrived on time 55.7% of the time, against 77.1% in normal hours.

Bad weather and normal hours at the airports

Scheduled departures, July 2023 – July 2026

Departures from ORD and EWR in hours of bad weather and in normal hours
Departures from	ORD	EWR
Cancelled in bad weather	6.5%	6.9%
Cancelled in normal hours	1.2%	2.1%
Arrived on time, bad weather	55.7%	65.8%
Arrived on time, normal hours	77.1%	80.0%
Departures in bad weather	104,455	51,613

Of the carriers on this route, United Airlines (3.5% cancelled against 7.4% for the other carriers at ORD) cancelled the fewest departures from ORD in bad weather and Envoy Air (8.6% cancelled against 6.9% for the other carriers at ORD) the most.

This route’s airlines in bad weather at ORD

All departures from ORD

Cancellation rates in bad weather at ORD for the airlines that fly ORD to EWR, against the other carriers at ORD in the same months
Airline	Bad-weather departures	Cancelled	Other carriers
United Airlines	31,269	3.5%below the others	7.4%
American Airlines	17,789	5.4%below the others	6.7%
Spirit Airlines	2,378	4.8%about level	5.5%
Republic Airways	9,471	8.1%above the others	6.5%
Envoy Air	14,228	8.6%above the others	6.9%

These are airport figures, not route figures: every scheduled departure from ORD and EWR, to any destination, in hours the weather report called bad. The airline rows count each carrier’s departures from ORD on every route.

Weather source and limits. In full: ORD (airlines), EWR, 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.

Airlines on this route
Carrier	Flights	On time	Cancelled	Median delay	Severe
United Airlines	12,999	74.2%	2.22%	-7 min	12.2%
American Airlines	2,481	59.7%	3.71%	5 min	19.4%
Envoy Air	2,228	74.0%	4.22%	-3 min	9.4%
Spirit Airlines	501	56.2%	6.39%	8 min	26.2%
Republic Airways	252	68.6%	5.16%	-1 min	12.7%

United Airlines flew 70.4% of the 18,461 flights listed. Spirit Airlines cancelled 6.39% of its flights here against 2.22% for United Airlines.

United Airlines arrived on time 18.0 percentage points more often than Spirit Airlines on this route.

Other ways to fly Chicago to New York

Airport pairs in the same two city markets, as the DOT defines them.

Other ways to fly Chicago to New York
Route	Flights	On time	Cancelled	Median delay	Score
ORD→LGA Chicago to New York	33,926	73.4%	3.24%	-6 min	41
ORD→EWR this route Chicago to Newark	18,463	71.7%	2.81%	-5 min	38

Flying to EWR from the Chicago area? Compare ORD, MDW 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.

Flights on this route
Flight	Scheduled	Operations	On time
UA563 United Airlines	7:10 AM	972	90.3%

Weekly and seasonal patterns

By day of week

Mon72.1%

Tue76.9%

Wed73.5%

Thu68.4%

Fri69.0%

Sat73.4%

Sun69.2%

Tuesday is historically the most reliable day and Thursday the least, a gap of 8.5 percentage points.

By month

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

July is historically the weakest month and February the strongest, a spread of 21.8 percentage points.

Reliability over time

July 2023 – July 2026

24

25

26

Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 69.9% against 69.7% in the 12 months before — broadly unchanged.

Data and methodology

Calculated by FlyerIntel from 18,463 ORD → 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

Analysis last recomputed September 26, 2026

ORD airport EWR airport Return direction EWR → ORD

ORD→EWR

Right now

Route reliability

What stands out

Why ORD → EWR flights are cancelled

Share of cancellations

What each reason means

When it goes wrong

Will your connection be tight enough?

Best time to fly

By day and hour

By departure window

By departure hour

Why ORD → EWR runs late

How this route holds up in bad weather

Bad weather and normal hours at the airports

This route’s airlines in bad weather at ORD

Airlines on this route

Other ways to fly Chicago to New York

Flights on this route

Weekly and seasonal patterns

By day of week

By month

Reliability over time

Data and methodology