The FAA has announced temporary scheduling relief at New York’s Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) to accommodate construction-related runway closures in 2025.
While EWR is classified as a Level 2 schedule-facilitated airport and does not have a formal slot usage requirement, the FAA actively manages airline schedules to reduce congestion.
The temporary relief will allow airlines to adjust their schedules, providing flexibility to operate more efficiently during the construction period. Similar relief will also be extended to flights at other major U.S. airports—including Chicago O’Hare, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Washington National—if those flights are affected by the Newark disruptions.
The FAA said it conducted a detailed analysis of expected delays during the construction period, modeling two scenarios: one without mitigation measures; and one with arrival and departure limits designed to align with air traffic control (ATC) capacity assessments.
The scenario without intervention projects that 65% of arrivals and 92% of departures would experience severe delays, averaging 55.8 min. and 86.6 min. respectively. With operational caps, delays are expected to decrease significantly, affecting 21% of arrivals and 44% of departures, with average delays of 38 min. and 39.9 min. per delayed flight.
“The FAA determined that the mitigation measures will balance efficient and timely operations at EWR during the construction period and limit the impact on carrier’s scheduled operations for the convenience of the flying public,” the FAA said.
Runway closures at EWR warrant “limited, conditional schedule relief” because the impacts to operations are beyond the carriers’ control and extend throughout 2025, the FAA said. Weekend closures will occur from March 1 to April 14, 2025, and Sept. 1 to Dec. 31, 2025, with daily closures from April 15 to June 15, 2025.
The planned runway work comes as United Airlines on Nov. 27 said more than 343,000 of its travelers were affected by delays, cancellations, long taxi times and longer flight times related to ATC constraints at its EWR hub over Nov. 1- 25.
In a statement, the FAA said the hiring of more air traffic controllers was “a top priority” for the agency. Its recently extended slot waivers at New York-area airports are in effect until October 2025, allowing carriers to voluntarily reduce operations and help relieve congestion.
In October, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey approved $55 million in additional funding for the redevelopment of Terminal B at EWR. The funding will support preliminary design work, infrastructure assessments, and financing strategies for a new terminal to replace the existing facility, which opened in 1973.
When Terminal B opened, it was designed to serve approximately 6.8 million annual passengers. In 2023, it handled about 12.3 million passengers. Construction of a new Terminal B forms the centerpiece of the new “EWR Vision Plan,” developed with design group Arup and architecture firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill.
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