Brace yourself if you’re traveling by air over Thanksgiving. U.S. airlines are expected to carry nearly 30 million passengers between Nov. 17 and 27, according to the Airlines for America organization. That would be a 9% increase from 2022.
Take an extra-deep breath if you’ll be using Newark Liberty International Airport. The Wall Street Journal has just published its rankings of the 50 busiest airports in the country — 20 large and 30 midsize airports. The rankings are “based on measures of reliability, value and convenience,” the Journal explained. It ranked Newark airport last among the 20 large airports, with an overall score of 37.6 out of 100. Oof!
An accompanying WSJ story rubs salt in the wound, noting, “The worst-performing large airports won’t surprise anyone, especially given the nonstop headlines on congestion issues in the Northeast: Newark Liberty International Airport and New York’s John F. Kennedy.”
Rick Cotton, executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which oversees the region’s airports, told the Journal that Newark airport and JFK are “works in progress” and the Port Authority is “committed to a trajectory where Newark and JFK are world-class.”
While Newark airport received an overall score of 37.6, it ranked 18.6 for reliability, and 56.7 for value and convenience. The “reliability” category factored in such things as on-time arrival (72.64%), average arrival delays (71 mins 41 secs), on-time departure (72.76%), average departure delays (72 mins 17 secs) flight cancellations (2.75%) and fast security clearance (96.3%).
The top five airports according to WSJ, were Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, Los Angeles International Airport, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport and Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport. Mind you, their scores were nothing to trumpet. Phoenix airport only managed a score of 63.4. Clearly, there’s lots of room for improvement even in the best-rated airports.
Keeping company in the doldrums along with Newark airport and JFK are airports in Dallas-Fort Worth, Orlando and Fort Lauderdale.