Repaired runway reopens ahead of schedule at Newark Liberty

Travel Weekly

02-06-2025

Newark Liberty Airport's runway 4L-22R has reopened for business nearly two weeks ahead of schedule, according to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which manages the airport.
The runway was shut down April 15 for repairs, bringing Newark's options down to just two runways and contributing to a host of delays and problems. The reduced capacity exacerbated a well-publicized communication blackout in late April at Newark's air traffic control facility near Philadelphia, which led to a cascade of delays and cancellations.
To manage traffic at Newark, United Airlines, which is Newark's primary airline, voluntarily cut back 35 flights a day, and the FAA later stepped in to cap operations at Newark at 56 hourly arrivals and departures.
But in the meantime, the Port Authority said, it brought in additional crews, expanded shifts and enabled construction to take place 24/7 to bring the runway back online faster than anticipated.
Port Authority executive director Rick Cotton said that although the runway repair work had a scheduled completion date of June 15, "as other issues have arisen related to Newark Liberty's capacity, the Port Authority took on the challenge to speed up construction."
DOT secretary Sean Duffy praised the timeline, saying that it "puts us on a path to further reducing congestion."
The $128 million project included milling and paving the runway surface, updating lighting, improving airfield signs with LED lighting, installing new underground electrical infrastructure and improving drainage, the Port Authority said.
United CEO: FAA flight caps at Newark helped
In an interview with journalist Kate Linebaugh the Wall Street Journal's Future of Everything event last week, United CEO Scott Kirby said that with the FAA managing takeoff and landing capacity, Newark would likely be "the most reliable" of the New York airports this summer.
"We had the best weekend in history for reliability at Newark over the Memorial Day holiday," he said. "It's likely going to be the most reliable; you have highest on-time performance of any of the New York-area airports this summer because of the changes at the FAA."
And, he added, "because we lost a lot of bookings ... there's more seats available, it's going to be the cheapest it's probably ever going to be in history. I don't really like that, but you ought to book, and it's going to be the least crowded."
Kirby said that once the runway construction was completed United could return some of its cut capacity to Newark, from 280 daily flights up to 380 -- but still down from about 440 last year.
"I think we'll have it permanently," Kirby said of the FAA traffic management. "That's going to fix Newark. That's the one thing — it's the only thing that we needed, and it's getting done."