Speaking at a press conference at Newark Airport, United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby announced plans to hire an additional 2,500 employees and noted that the travel issues which plagued the airport this past summer have largely subsided.

United celebrated its best summer of operations ever at Newark, achieving on-time performance that matched or exceeded neighboring New York airports, Kirby said. According to the airline, United flights out of Newark arrived on time more often this summer than flights from any airline operating out of JFK or LaGuardia. More than six million customers flew United through Newark on time this summer, the highest in the airline’s history.

Kirby credited both employees and government partners for the turnaround. “Newark is operating better than ever and United’s future here is bright – that’s a credit to the thousands of Newark employees who deliver for our customers and one another every day,” he said, thanking federal and state officials including FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford and New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy.

Looking ahead, United will serve more than 160 domestic and international destinations from Newark this fall and winter – more than any other airline in the New York City area. New international routes will include Rome, Venice, Porto, Marrakesh, and Dublin, while new domestic flights will connect Newark to Orlando, Fort Lauderdale, Palm Springs, Columbia (SC), and Chattanooga (TN).

The airline also announced plans to hire more than 2,500 Newark-based employees between 2025 and 2026 and to become the first carrier to purchase sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) for use at EWR.

The announcement follows several months of staffing shortages, technology outages, and runway construction, which led to significant delays and cancellations.

Since then, coordinated efforts between United, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and federal officials have improved reliability. Runway construction wrapped up early in June, while the FAA reduced Newark’s flight operations cap to improve scheduling efficiency and installed new fiber optic infrastructure to support air traffic control.

The FAA limited Newark flight operations to 68 flights per hour, down from 86, after the outages. That limit was raised to 72 per hour through the summer of 2026.

But despite limitations on the number of flights United could fly, the airline was able to offer passengers more seats in and out of Newark than in the past by using larger aircrafts.

August 16 was the busiest day of the year for the airline, carrying 650,000 customers in a single day.

“We’re building a brand new air traffic control system, and we started by addressing the challenges of outdated technology at Newark,” FAA Administrator Bedford noted.

United currently employs more than 14,000 people in the Newark and New York City area, including more than 3,000 pilots and 5,700 flight attendants,