Route profile
PDX→EWR
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Portland to Newark, 2,434 miles.
Right now
Weather conditions are strongly associated with delays and cancellations.
Aviation weather is not currently a factor.
Route reliability
July 2023 – July 2026
Better than 61% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 2,637 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
PDX → EWR arrives on time 82.5% of the time; the return trip, EWR → PDX, arrives on time 77.0% of the time, a 5.5-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
PDX → EWR spends 26.6 minutes on the ground on a 2,434-mile trip: 16.3 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at PDX and 10.3 minutes from touchdown to gate at EWR.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What stands out
Unlike most, it barely matters what time you fly this route, a steadier spread than 96% of 4,023 comparable routes.
85.0% on time for 5–9 AM departures, against 78.8% for 9 AM–12 PM, a narrow gap either way.
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 PDX to EWR differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
PDX to EWR struggles most at 9 AM: 75.1% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 5.2 points behind the 80.3% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 9.2 points.
PDX to EWR is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 10 AM: 82.3% arrive on time, 4.4 points ahead of the 77.9% those routes manage at that hour.
PDX to EWR holds up on Fridays better than routes of similar length do: 85.9% on time to their 77.3%, a 8.6 points lead. Against all other routes the gap is 9.7 points.
March is kinder to PDX to EWR than to routes of similar length: 88.3% on time against 79.1%, 9.2 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 10.4 points.
Alaska Airlines does better on PDX to EWR than on its routes of similar length: 81.5% on time here, 76.0% there, 5.5 points apart. Against all other routes the gap is 3.5 points.
PDX to EWR against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 9 AM departures | 75.1% | routes of similar length | 80.3% | −5.2 pts | 393 here, 72,398 there |
| Hour: 10 AM departures | 82.3% | routes of similar length | 77.9% | +4.4 pts | 451 here, 51,949 there |
| Weekday: Friday | 85.9% | routes of similar length | 77.3% | +8.6 pts | 375 here, 159,696 there |
| Month: March | 88.3% | routes of similar length | 79.1% | +9.2 pts | 180 here, 86,076 there |
| Airline: Alaska Airlines | 81.5% | routes of similar length | 76.0% | +5.5 pts | 1,018 here, 170,363 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 2,434 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.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
38 min late
against a median of 11 min early
Percentiles over 2,637 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at EWR after arriving from PDX.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 30% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 17% | High risk |
| 60 min | 12% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 6.9% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 4.3% | Low 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 1.52% of the time and diverts 0.68% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 2,579 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 38 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 2,637 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
PDX → EWR flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 85.0% of the time, against 78.8% for 9 AM–12 PM departures, a gap of 6.2 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 6 AM: too few flights to score
- 7 AM: 80.0% on time from 151 flights
- 8 AM: 87.3% on time from 317 flights
- 9 AM: 75.1% on time from 407 flights
- 10 AM: 82.3% on time from 464 flights
- 11 AM: 77.8% on time from 120 flights
- 12 PM to 8 PM: too few flights to score
- 9 PM: 84.3% on time from 173 flights
- 10 PM: 85.5% on time from 726 flights
- 11 PM: 82.8% on time from 276 flights
Departure windows with fewer than 120 flights are not scored.
Why PDX → 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 PDX → EWR. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
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 | 1,595 | 83.1% | 1.50% | -12 min | 6.4% |
| Alaska Airlines | 1,042 | 81.5% | 1.54% | -9 min | 7.9% |
United Airlines flew 60.5% of the 2,637 flights listed.
Carriers on this route performed within a couple of percentage points of each other.
Flights on this route
Flight numbers with at least 600 operations here and still on the schedule.
| Flight | Scheduled | Operations | On time |
|---|---|---|---|
| UA1802 United Airlines | 10:52 PM | 708 | 84.6% |
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Tuesday is historically the most reliable day and Thursday the least, a gap of 8.9 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: no data
- Feb: 88.2%
- Mar: 88.3%
- Apr: 88.6%
- May: 82.7%
- Jun: 79.9%
- Jul: 72.8%
- Aug: 79.3%
- Sep: 83.8%
- Oct: 85.0%
- Nov: 82.7%
- Dec: 86.6%
July is historically the weakest month and April the strongest, a spread of 15.8 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: too few flights to score (93)
- August 2023: too few flights to score (93)
- September 2023: too few flights to score (90)
- October 2023: too few flights to score (89)
- November 2023: too few flights to score (60)
- December 2023: too few flights to score (62)
- January 2024: too few flights to score (38)
- February 2024: too few flights to score (44)
- March 2024: too few flights to score (62)
- April 2024: too few flights to score (60)
- May 2024: too few flights to score (71)
- June 2024: too few flights to score (90)
- July 2024: too few flights to score (93)
- August 2024: too few flights to score (91)
- September 2024: too few flights to score (86)
- October 2024: too few flights to score (84)
- November 2024: too few flights to score (56)
- December 2024: too few flights to score (62)
- January 2025: too few flights to score (36)
- February 2025: too few flights to score (44)
- March 2025: too few flights to score (57)
- April 2025: too few flights to score (57)
- May 2025: too few flights to score (62)
- June 2025: too few flights to score (65)
- July 2025: too few flights to score (93)
- August 2025: too few flights to score (93)
- September 2025: too few flights to score (90)
- October 2025: too few flights to score (87)
- November 2025: too few flights to score (59)
- December 2025: too few flights to score (62)
- January 2026: too few flights to score (37)
- February 2026: too few flights to score (45)
- March 2026: too few flights to score (62)
- April 2026: too few flights to score (60)
- May 2026: too few flights to score (71)
- June 2026: too few flights to score (111)
- July 2026: 80.0% from 122 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 83.9% against 80.8% in the 12 months before — improving by 3.1 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 2,637 PDX → 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