NEWARK, N.J. — Federal aviation officials grounded inbound flights at Newark Liberty International Airport on Friday morning as thunderstorms hit the region, leaving departing travelers facing delays of up to two hours.
The Federal Aviation Administration put a ground stop in place — meaning flights scheduled to depart for Newark from other airports must remain on the ground. The agency expects the ground stop to run until 12:15 p.m. EST. FAA operational data shows Newark departures are delayed by an average of 1 hour and 46 minutes to 2 hours due to weather. At the airport, conditions show light rain, a temperature of 68 degrees, and 5 mph winds with 10 miles of visibility.
An estimated 673 flights across the day are affected by the disruption.
The halt is backing up air traffic across the country. FAA pipeline tracking shows 18% of Newark's inbound traffic is disrupted at three major feeder airports. Flights originating at Chicago O’Hare (representing 8% of Newark traffic) and Miami International (5%) are tied up with departure delays. Boston Logan (5%) is contending with ground delays.
Today's slowdown cuts sharply into standard airfield performance. Based on BTS data from the past six months, Newark runs on-time 80.5% of the time, with late flights averaging an 81-minute delay. Today's departure delays are running 25 to 40 minutes longer than that average.
Travelers with flights out of Newark should monitor their flight status before heading to the terminal, as outbound planes face rolling delays averaging nearly two hours. Passengers scheduled to connect through Newark from Chicago, Miami, or Boston should check their connection windows immediately, as upstream gate holds will cause inbound aircraft to arrive behind schedule.
If the ground stop lifts at 12:15 p.m. as scheduled, inbound planes will resume departures toward New Jersey. However, gate backlogs and departure queues will take hours to untangle, and delays from disrupted hubs in Chicago, Miami, and Boston will continue to ripple into Newark through Friday afternoon.