San Francisco to Newark

What the Data Says About SFO to EWR

The San Francisco to Newark corridor (SFO → EWR) covers roughly 2,565 miles and is served by 7 carriers, based on Bureau of Transportation Statistics reporting. Across 22,079 flights in the dataset, this route posts a 77.5% on-time rate with an average delay of 74.2 minutes when flights run late. Over the most recent 24 months of BTS data, 8,420 flights were recorded on this pairing — 147 cancelled (1.7%) and 48 diverted (0.6%). Those baseline metrics tell you what to expect before you book.

Having 7 carriers on the route matters: more carriers generally means more daily schedule options, competitive pricing, and redundancy when flights are cancelled. With 22,079 total flights analyzed, the 77.5% on-time figure is statistically meaningful rather than a small-sample fluke. The 74.2-minute average delay applies only to flights that actually ran late, so it is not the average wait across all departures — the majority of flights on this route depart on time under the BTS definition of a delay (15+ minutes past schedule).

Looking at recent months, Jan 2025 posted the best performance on this corridor at 88% on-time, while May 2025 came in at 59% on-time — a 29-point gap between best and worst recent month. For travelers evaluating the SFO to EWR route, the combination of a 77.5% on-time rate, 74.2-minute average delay, 1.7% recent cancellation rate, and 7 available carriers is the concrete summary of what BTS data shows about reliability on this pairing.