SFO → EWR Flight Reliability

Right now

Origin · SFONo disruption reported

Aviation weather is not currently a factor.

Updated 08:56 UTC

San Francisco 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

54/ 100Fair

Better than 22% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)

Calculated from 13,049 flights. How this is calculated

On-time arrivals

76.0%

9,666 of 12,718

Cancellation rate

1.86%

243 cancelled

Median arrival delay

-7 min

Average 8.0 min

Severe delays

10.0%

60+ minutes late

Delay when late

78 min

Average, when 15+ min late

Flights analyzed

13,049

2 carriers

SFO → EWR arrives on time 76.0% of the time; the return trip, EWR → SFO, arrives on time 72.6% of the time, a 3.4-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.

SFO → EWR spends 35.6 minutes on the ground on a 2,565-mile trip: 24.3 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at SFO and 11.3 minutes from touchdown to gate at EWR.

Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026

Why SFO → EWR flights are cancelled

July 2023 – July 2026

SFO → EWR cancelled 243 of 13,049 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 54. The reason filed most often was the airline, 58.0% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 93 scheduled flights.

Share of cancellations

Airline58.0%

Weather34.6%

Air traffic7.4%

Security0.0%

Of 243 cancelled departures carrying a reason code.

What each reason means

The airline1 in 93

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

141 cancellations, 58.0% of the total.

Extreme weather1 in 155

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

84 cancellations, 34.6% of the total.

The air traffic system1 in 725

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

18 cancellations, 7.4% 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. 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.

243 coded cancellations were recorded on SFO → EWR; the section appears from 50.

When it goes wrong

July 2023 – July 2026

One arrival in ten is worse than

59 min late

against a median of 7 min early

Arrived an hour or more late10.0%

Typical delay when late78 min

Cancelled1.86%

Landed somewhere else0.67%

SFO → EWR has an average that understates its risk: a typical arrival is 7 min early, but the worst tenth are 66 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 13,049 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.

Will your connection be tight enough?

Layovers at EWR after arriving from SFO.

Connection buffer and chance of missing by layover length, SFO → EWR arrivals
Connection time	Chance of missing	Reads as
30 min	37%	Likely to miss
45 min	23%	High risk
60 min	17%	High risk
90 min	9.8%	Some risk
120 min	6.5%	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 1.86% of the time and diverts 0.67% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.

Chance of missing is the share of 12,718 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 59 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 13,049 operations.

Any other layover length: connection checker.

Best time to fly

SFO → EWR flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 85.5% of the time, against 66.3% for 12–3 PM departures, a gap of 19.2 percentage points.

By day and hour

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

Hour of departure matters more than day of the week: hourly averages sit a typical 8.2 points from the route-wide rate, weekday averages 2.2 points.

On-time arrival rate for SFO to EWR by weekday and scheduled departure hour, local time. Each button reads out one slot.
Hour	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
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
10 PM–11 PM
11 PM–12 AM

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

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 7 AM (594 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 SFO to EWR. A dash means fewer than 120 flights, which are not scored.
Hour	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
7 AM–8 AM	86.8% on time226 flights	90.3% on time211 flights	89.9% on time222 flights	87.2% on time224 flights	93.5% on time225 flights	86.7% on time208 flights	85.6% on time225 flights
8 AM–9 AM	77.8% on time176 flights	81.9% on time177 flights	84.2% on time175 flights	84.4% on time175 flights	79.6% on time173 flights	79.4% on time158 flights	81.8% on time172 flights
9 AM–10 AM	64 flights, too few to score	60 flights, too few to score	59 flights, too few to score	63 flights, too few to score	64 flights, too few to score	61 flights, too few to score	68 flights, too few to score
10 AM–11 AM	69.5% on time122 flights	70.2% on time124 flights	73.6% on time125 flights	63.2% on time120 flights	64.7% on time122 flights	69.7% on time122 flights	61.2% on time122 flights
11 AM–12 PM	65.8% on time121 flights	67.2% on time120 flights	66.4% on time121 flights	65.0% on time123 flights	72.5% on time122 flights	118 flights, too few to score	117 flights, too few to score
12 PM–1 PM	35 flights, too few to score	32 flights, too few to score	36 flights, too few to score	36 flights, too few to score	36 flights, too few to score	35 flights, too few to score	43 flights, too few to score
1 PM–2 PM	61.2% on time153 flights	70.4% on time149 flights	52.7% on time151 flights	64.6% on time153 flights	58.0% on time153 flights	69.8% on time153 flights	58.4% on time148 flights
2 PM–3 PM	76.0% on time131 flights	76.4% on time129 flights	64.3% on time130 flights	69.8% on time129 flights	69.8% on time129 flights	72.7% on time123 flights	66.1% on time131 flights
3 PM–4 PM	33 flights, too few to score	33 flights, too few to score	33 flights, too few to score	34 flights, too few to score	35 flights, too few to score	33 flights, too few to score	33 flights, too few to score
4 PM–5 PM	72.3% on time152 flights	78.5% on time146 flights	74.3% on time147 flights	63.7% on time149 flights	72.7% on time151 flights	70 flights, too few to score	67.1% on time146 flights
5 PM–6 PM	0 flights, too few to score	0 flights, too few to score	0 flights, too few to score	0 flights, too few to score	0 flights, too few to score	0 flights, too few to score	0 flights, too few to score
6 PM–7 PM	0 flights, too few to score	0 flights, too few to score	0 flights, too few to score	0 flights, too few to score	0 flights, too few to score	0 flights, too few to score	0 flights, too few to score
7 PM–8 PM	0 flights, too few to score	0 flights, too few to score	0 flights, too few to score	0 flights, too few to score	0 flights, too few to score	0 flights, too few to score	0 flights, too few to score
8 PM–9 PM	0 flights, too few to score	0 flights, too few to score	0 flights, too few to score	0 flights, too few to score	0 flights, too few to score	0 flights, too few to score	0 flights, too few to score
9 PM–10 PM	82.6% on time225 flights	84.7% on time222 flights	85.7% on time221 flights	80.9% on time221 flights	78.3% on time229 flights	83.9% on time228 flights	79.4% on time225 flights
10 PM–11 PM	82.1% on time206 flights	87.2% on time203 flights	77.9% on time202 flights	77.8% on time205 flights	82.7% on time201 flights	80.6% on time195 flights	82.6% on time205 flights
11 PM–12 AM	71.5% on time168 flights	82.4% on time168 flights	70.1% on time169 flights	69.8% on time168 flights	67.5% on time167 flights	79.2% on time163 flights	69.3% on time169 flights

By departure window

5–9 AM85.5%

9 AM–12 PM67.4%

12–3 PM66.3%

3–6 PM71.4%

9 PM–5 AM79.4%

By departure hour

12 AM

3 AM

6 AM

9 AM

12 PM

3 PM

6 PM

9 PM

Why SFO → EWR runs late

July 2023 – July 2026

Late-arriving aircraft36.3%

the inbound aircraft was late, so this flight started late

Air traffic control33.1%

airspace and airport capacity, including weather-driven flow control

The airline28.8%

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

Weather1.8%

weather severe enough to stop this flight specifically

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

Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on SFO → EWR, at 36.3%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 85.5% of the time and 12–3 PM departures 66.3%.

How this route holds up in bad weather

July 2023 – July 2026

The harder-hit end is EWR, where the flight lands. Its figure counts departures from EWR, so it says more about how that airport copes than about this route. Bad weather cancels 3.3 times the normal rate at EWR against 1.7 times at SFO. Cancelled in bad weather against normal hours: SFO 1.5% against 0.9%, EWR 6.9% against 2.1%. Flights that did leave EWR in bad weather arrived on time 65.8% of the time, against 80.0% in normal hours.

Bad weather and normal hours at the airports

Scheduled departures, July 2023 – July 2026

Departures from SFO and EWR in hours of bad weather and in normal hours
Departures from	SFO	EWR
Cancelled in bad weather	1.5%	6.9%
Cancelled in normal hours	0.9%	2.1%
Arrived on time, bad weather	73.0%	65.8%
Arrived on time, normal hours	79.8%	80.0%
Departures in bad weather	36,006	51,613

United Airlines (1.0% cancelled against 1.9% for the other carriers at SFO) cancelled fewer departures from SFO in bad weather than the other carriers there did in the same months. None of the route’s other carriers was clearly worse.

This route’s airlines in bad weather at SFO

All departures from SFO

Cancellation rates in bad weather at SFO for the airlines that fly SFO to EWR, against the other carriers at SFO in the same months
Airline	Bad-weather departures	Cancelled	Other carriers
United Airlines	13,903	1.0%below the others	1.9%
Alaska Airlines	3,124	1.8%about level	1.4%

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

Weather source and limits. In full: SFO (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	10,915	75.2%	1.95%	-7 min	10.5%
Alaska Airlines	2,134	80.3%	1.41%	-11 min	7.2%

United Airlines flew 83.6% of the 13,049 flights listed.

Alaska Airlines arrived on time 5.1 percentage points more often than United Airlines on this route.

Other ways to fly San Francisco to New York

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

Other ways to fly San Francisco to New York
Route	Flights	On time	Cancelled	Median delay	Score
SFO→JFK San Francisco to New York	20,820	80.4%	1.40%	-10 min	66
SFO→EWR this route San Francisco to Newark	13,049	76.0%	1.86%	-7 min	54

SFO → JFK is the most reliable pairing for this journey at 80.4% on time, against 76.0% for SFO → EWR.

Flying to EWR from the San Francisco area? Compare SFO, SJC, OAK 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
UA1149 United Airlines	7:00 AM	928	83.7%

Weekly and seasonal patterns

By day of week

Mon76.3%

Tue80.8%

Wed75.8%

Thu74.1%

Fri75.3%

Sat76.5%

Sun73.3%

Tuesday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 7.5 percentage points.

By month

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

July is historically the weakest month and October the strongest, a spread of 19.6 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 76.9% against 74.9% in the 12 months before — improving by 2.0 percentage points.

Data and methodology

Calculated by FlyerIntel from 13,049 SFO → 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

SFO airport EWR airport Return direction EWR → SFO

SFO→EWR

Right now

Route reliability

Why SFO → 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 SFO → 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 SFO

Airlines on this route

Other ways to fly San Francisco to New York

Flights on this route

Weekly and seasonal patterns

By day of week

By month

Reliability over time

Data and methodology