New York-area airports have set a record for passenger traffic for a sixth straight year, while a new study finds they again rank among the worst in on-time performance.
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates John F. Kennedy, LaGuardia, Newark Liberty and Stewart airports, says more than 132 million passengers used those facilities in 2017.
That's a 2.2 percent increase over the previous record in 2016.
JFK set a record with more than 59 million passengers, and Newark Liberty set a record with more than 43 million passengers.
Meanwhile, a study released Thursday by Global Gateway Alliance shows Newark had the worst on-time performance in the nation for passenger traffic in 2017, followed closely by LaGuardia and JFK.
The analysis, using recently released deata from the Bureau of Transportation statistic, shows Newark was last in both on-time arrivals and departures, down to 67.74 percent and 73.42 percent respectively.
On-time performance in 2017 was down at all three New York City area airports from 2016, but Newark's decrease of 4.49 % was the largest performance drop in the nation.
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JFK's arrival delays were the longest in the country in 2017, averaging 83.7 minutes per delay, more than 12 minutes-per-delay worse than the average delay in 2016. LaGuardia led the nation in percentage of flights canceled in 2017 at 3.23 percent, and its departure delays were second longest in the country at an average of 79 minutes per delay.
While passenger traffic has gone up at JFK and LaGuardia, the airports handled fewer flights from major U.S. carriers in 2017 than any of the past five years, indicating that increased traffic was not the cause of the problems at both airports.
Stewart saw a more than 60 percent increase in passenger volume with the expansion of Allegiant Air's service and the launch of Norwegian Air service to five European destinations.
The Port Authority is investing more than $11 billion in aviation improvements over the next 10 years.
