Survey Ranks Newark Worst Airport In The Nation For Flight Delays
NEWARK, NJ (CBS 2) -- If your planning to book a flight, you might want to avoid Newark Liberty International Airport. According to a Wall Street Journal survey, it's been ranked the worst in the nation when it comes to flight delays.
Frequent flier John Piper flies out of Newark about once a month.
He wasn't too taken aback to learn that Newark was ranked as having the most delayed flights in the country.
"I am surprised because most of my flights are on time, but not surprised because of the volume of this airport," said Piper.
The report shows that 40 out of the 100 most delayed flights in the country are from Newark Liberty.
"Not really surprising. It's a big airport, there's a lot of people here, it's international," said passenger Wayne Camp. "There's so much going on you would expect there would be delays."
Newark is also home to the most delayed flight in the country. Delta Flight 2743 to Atlanta is late 60 percent of the time with the average length of the delay at one hour 23 minutes.
Right behind it is another Newark-Atlanta flight, Delta 2843. It's delayed 50 percent of the time, by an average one hour and 19 minutes.
Travel experts say the delays aren't because of volume. Newark is only the 14th busiest airport in the country.
EXTRA: New York Commuter's Guide To Planes, Trains & Automobiles
They say the root cause of all the late flights is scheduling.
Most runways are built to handle a certain number of flights an hour. At Newark, the airlines have been allowed to schedule nearly double the number of flights that some runways can handle.
The Tri-state area's other two airports also make the list for the worst airport delays. LaGuardia is fourth and JFK is eighth.
Travel experts suggest flying out of alternate airport, but if you really must fly out of these delay prone airports, pick the first flight out because those are usually on time.
To see the full survey, click here.
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