A Lufthansa memo suggested the International Air Transport Association (IATA) is revamping some of its multi-airport city codes, including separating Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) from New York (NYC). I find the move a stupid one. Sorry, but Newark is a New York City airport.
Newark Is Just As Much A New York City Airport As JFK
Among a handful of changes, New York City (NYC), which currently includes Kennedy Airport (JFK), LaGuardia Airport (LGA), and Newark (EWR), will no longer include Newark. It is not clear what the rationale for this change is.
NYC will not include EWR
CC @WandrMe @AirlineFlyer @crankyflier pic.twitter.com/phhehWQpKJ— CH (@tdh18ny) September 7, 2022
But this idea that Newark is not a New York City airport because it is in New Jersey is a stupid conclusion. Every time you fly into Newark is a reminder you are still in the greater New York City area. Transport options to the city are frequent and importantly, the timing is very similar if not better to many points in the city than from JFK. From your airplane seat on the ground at EWR you can inspect the Manhattan skyline.
The consequences will also be felt by travelers, even if airline search engines still include Newark in New York City searches. Lufthansa tells its agents that separate fares will be filed for Newark and that voluntary changes between the two airports will no longer be permitted without a fare waiver or fare re-calculation.
Seems a lot of trouble for an airport that is easier to reach for half of Manhattan than Kennedy.
Other Thoughts
If anything, IATA could have (and may have) removed Baltimore (BWI) from the Washington area airport code (WAS). I would not have changed anything, but BWI is not just across the river from the District of Columbia unlike Newark from New York City. (Then again, neither is Washington Dulles IAD).
Finally, we really need a single code to search all airports in the Los Angeles area, including:
- Los Angeles International (LAX)
- Burbank-Hollywood (BUR)
- Long Beach (LGB)
- Orange County (SNA)
- Ontario (ONT)
The code “QLA” used to do the trick but has not worked for years unless I am missing something. Now whether airlines file a single fare for all LA airports is an entirely different matter.
CONCLUSION
I really don’t understand that change and have seen no other reference to it beyond the screenshot above. Whatever your thoughts about the convenience of Newark, it is certainly a New York City airport. Hopefully, this is just an instance of Lufthansa trying to pinch pennies to pay for its forthcoming pilot’s contract and not an industry-wide change.
CVG will also be removed from referencing Cincinnati.
/s
Many of us who live on Long Island/Westchester HATE the fact that EWR is an NYC airport, but HPN and ISP are not. EWR was given special treatment, and now its ending. Is it in the greater NYC area, sure, but so are many other airports. NYC is an actual CITY, with 5 boroughs. Those airports included in NYC should be those within those city limits.
“NYC is an actual CITY, with 5 boroughs. Those airports included in NYC should be those within those city limits.”
What a stupid argument! By your logic, both Toronto and Montreal (and countless other major cities in the world) should not have any airports named after those cities since their primary airports are technically situated outside of the city limits (YYZ is in Mississauga while YUL is in Doval, both of which are cities on their own).
Part of the reasons why EWR gets included in the NYC area airports list is because it has the facilities, the size, and the convenient location to be considered an NYC area airport. Neither HPN nor ISP have any of these attributes and hence aren’t included in that list. Accept this fact and lose the bitterness.
Don’t forget CVG, DFW, SFO, BDL, OSL, HEL, BKK, LHR, IST, GRU, EZE, NRT, ICN, MUC
Agreed. For example, of the five airports serving London, only two – Heathrow and City – are within London. Gatwick, Stansted and Luton are all beyond Greater London’s boundaries.
Your logic is so flawed. Then in that case DC has no airports, as none of the DC airports are in the district, but Virginia or Maryland. I guess we should rename DCA to something else. EWR is very similar to BWI. For a majority of Washingtonians, BWI is much faster to get to then Dulles. Just like EWR is much closer to a lot of people in NYC.
I agree, that said, I wish they would make transfer between the 3 airports easier.
Yes, EWR may be considered a New York City airport for those tourists who plan to visit Manhattan only. When you say “Transport options to the city…” you mean Manhattan. Transit (public or private) from EWR to anywhere outside Manhattan is not nearly as easy – it is not simply “across the river,” it is across TWO rivers, which means multiple bridges/tunnels and a much longer ride.
Also, travel in and out of NYC is obviously not limited to tourists. For us NYC residents who live in Brooklyn or Queens in particular, EWR is NOT simply across one river, but across two. It’s not a matter of being 15-20 minutes farther than JFK or LGA, it can be 60-120 minutes farther, depending on time of day. Also, EWR has painfully few good transit options if you’re coming from or going to anywhere outside Manhattan or Staten Island.
While what you said is true, I would add people coming to NY for business are largely going to Manhattan for which EWR is better than JFK. Case in point, there are hourly flights on multiple airlines to LGA and EWR from Chicago, but barely any to JFK
To be fair, there are much less slots available at JFK so airlines won’t focus on shorter domestic flights. DL and AA have LGA as hubs for domestic traffic, or for flights to NYC that are usually three hours or less.
and for people living in manhattan or the bronx, JFK is 60-120+ minutes away. Even from Williamsburg it can take me 60+ mins to get to JFK. and I’m in ‘brooklyn’.
And talking about public transit – it takes me in brooklyn just as long to get home from LGA with public transit as it does from EWR or JFK … (65 mins)
You just said anyone going to manhattan or staten island (or the bronx) will prefer EWR to JFK, and anyone in brooklyn / queens will prefer JFK over EWR…
I’m pretty sure that there are at least some NYC residents who live in Brooklyn or Queens that would take a flight to/from EWR if circumstances require. When I lived in Brooklyn, I had a flight to JFK canceled, and took a EWR-bound flight opposed to a 5 hour layover. I needed to get home, so was willing to pay for the cab.
Was it convenient or affordable — probably not. But it was a great option considering the circumstances.
No one forces you to book an EWR flight when you use the NYC code. Its just for searching and for changing flights. You don’t have to accept the change.
You all are very disrespectful to new jersey qnd including its biggest city newark which that airport is located in its not a nyc airport its a newark north jersey airport totally different state learn to respect state boundaries
Are you mentally preparing yourself for the debacle coming up at JFK with UA by any chance? The writing was on the wall as early as late last year.
Not in this case, though intrestingly I am told that UA pushed for this change so it can exercise even greater pricing control over Newark.
That was the first thing I thought.
As a retired airline pricing analyst I can tell you that U.S. domestic and US/CA Transborder fares to/from EWR have been priced separately from NYC fares (JFK/LGA) for decades. There is no dark conspiracy to suddenly raise fares, nor is there a down side to standardizing the industry and having this application applied globally. And airlines have always had the option to price EWR separately – or LGA – or JFK from NYC fares with the automation airlines have to file their fares with. This change will be completely transparent to passengers as the mechanisms of airline pricing is a greater mystery than whether EWR is or is not a part of NYC.
Completely agree with Matthew that this is a bizarre decision. People need to think in terms of metropolitan areas and service areas, not municipal jurisdictions. Only Heathrow and City Airports are located in actual London boroughs but no one says “oh, Gatwick actually isn’t a London airport” because of that. The urban area of the New York metro is 20 million people and yes, is served by 3 principal airports. It’s a huge urban area and that does mean for many of the population one or more of the airports are much less convenient to get to, but that shouldn’t disqualify one or other airports as not serving the region.
It’s an industry change sadly. I got a similar notification from Travelport (GDS) about the IATA led change. Is going to be confusing…
I am not familiar with the geography and people flows in NYC, but I think that it might make sense for IATA to look at some more of these co-terminal arrangements. For example, they could combine DUS/DTM/CGN, or decouple STN from London- not only is it quite far from the city centre, but it’s in the middle of nowhere and not at all integrated into the conurbation. You could probably make the same argument for BGY and even MXP, although that would leave Milan with just one small airport.
In my opinion, EWR used to be not New York decades ago but is now New York. That is because decades ago, JFK was a ghost town and it was LGA and EWR only. Now that the metro area is so big, EWR is New York.
There was once a time that United had its own terminal next to the American terminal at JFK. It looked like Oakland International Airport terminal 1, which is glass doors with stainless steel frame, not high ceilings. There were 2 small concourses but essentially just LAX and SFO flights, very sleepy. Those were the days….Eastern Airlines Terminal (where T1 is n0w), Delta Northwest Terminal (T2, still there), Pan Am Worldport, International Arrivals Building (T4 site), TWA International Terminal, TWA Domestic (previously called National Airlines Sunport?), British Airways Terminal (T7), and American Airlines Terminal (site of current T8).
In those days, EWR was somewhat sleepy. Terminal A and B were not crowded. Terminal C was being built. PeoplExpress was in the now-demolished North Terminal but planning to move to Terminal C.
I think the old T6, which was the Sundrome / TWA Domestic, was also the United terminal that you are referring to. I recall flying out of there once or twice, perhaps on America West.
Yes. After TWA, it was United and America West.
The check in part of that terminal was really nice. It was designed by I. M. Pei. Efforts to save it failed. The airside building behind it, connected by 2 walkways on the second floor with a roadway underneath, was nothing special. Few or no windows and dull.
Remember … The New York Jets and New York Giants all play in … New Jersey
This is a good point that anyone not in agreement that EWR is a NYC airport because of unnecessary hatred for NJ needs to remember. PS: The Statue of Liberty is a part of Liberty state park in NJ and is in NJ waters. I understand for some of us who live in the outer boroughs, perhaps it is a bit far. But for most of us, all 3 are far. I’m in Brooklyn, and it really doesn’t matter to me which airport I go to. Of course I prefer LGA, but did anyone ever notice that flights out of Newark are less expensive? That is a pretty good incentive for me, especially when you can simply get to the airport by taking a quick and easy and SUPER CHEAP NJ transit train from Penn. People, Newark sometimes has a lot more flights/seats than LGA and JFK I’ve noticed in my searches. So often I’ve HAD to fly out of Newark. Good for last minute flights! I’ve had a flight get cancelled twice from either JFK or LGA I can’t remember, and could only find flights from Newark within the time I would need to leave. It’s good to have all 3 as an option. I know someone from NJ that has flown from LGA, and that is not that uncommon. They are using the NYC search too. And so many people fly in for business and of course need to search via NYC code, and for them EWR can really come in clutch. And it isn’t all about us. It’s also about the millions of people a year visiting NYC that will search all 3, leaving our EWR leaves out a lot of options for everybody. The “hating” that the airport is farther is dumb. When I lived in Manhattan, I did not enjoy flying out of JFK because that was the least convenient airport for me at the time, but I did not HATE it. These are airports, they’re for everybody. There’s SO MANY airports that are outside city limits so using that argument is very foolish.
JFK and LGA are actually in Queens, NY, not NYC.
Queens is one of the five boroughs of New York City. They’re certainly in NYC, just not Manhattan.
Queens is in NYC. It’s one of the 5 Boroughs. Brooklyn,Queens, Manhattan ,The Bronx and Staten Island. Anything else is not.
According to Google Maps, the current drive time from EWR to Midtown is 29 minutes. The current drive time from JFK to Midtown is 62 minutes. One of those seems convenient to New York. One doesn’t.
Who wants to be in midtown? If convenience mattered, nobody would live in NYC. It is a state of mind. EWR is simply not an option. It’s like an adult cheating on their kid’s 1st grade spelling test. Regardless of the outcome, it is simply wrong.
Least metro areas like EWR/JFK/LGA have acceptable public transportation connecting each other.
I got a little annoyed when my JFK-ORH flight got cancelled and B6 kept trying to send me to BOS since it’s the same metro market. Had to foot a Uber bill to get back to ORH where my car was parked.
Bottom line?
It’s all about the bottom line $$$$
https://www.united.com/en-us/london-sale
United is offering really big discounts on flights from LAX/SFO to LHR this fall. Makes me think these flights aren’t doing so hot, and to be honest I am a little worried they’re going to cut the LAX-LHR flight which would be very sad.
If this happens, it is a silly move! I am sure most travel search engines would automatically include EWR when someone searches for NYC. I don’t know where this would stop. Tell me how many football stadiums we have within city limits!
I have a point to pick up with Mathew! Why would you want to remove BWI from WAS airports? In this age, the better way to describe urban agglomerations is not City limits or Metropolitan Area, but Combined Statistical Area (CSA). Just like EWR is very a NYC airport, BWI is very much a DC area (Washington Baltimore CSA) airport. BWI competes with IAD and DCA for local traffic. And IAD is pushing for an outer beltway (which would never happen I guess) for easy access to the airport for Baltimore area residents. The Washington-Baltimore CSA has about 10 million residents and has overtaken Chicago as the third biggest urban agglomeration (behind NYC and LA). So, WAS airports should include IAD, DCA and BWI.
With the exception of (west) Staten Island, anyone living north or east of Manhattan (Bronx, Westchester, all of Long Island) see no benefit of and are loathe to use Newark Airport or call it a part of New York City. Millions of people in these locations face an expensive, two+ hour drive/ride to Newark. Call it whatever location you want, just don’t lump every flier into someone who is dying to use Newark or should see it as such a great place to fly from. It’s filthy and hard to get to with a spaghetti junction of roads and heavy, dangerous traffic all around it. Nor is the NJTransit out of Penn Station any prize or easy task as an alternative. The terminals are dreary and dirty as well. Unfortunately unsuspecting tourists who fly in there probably regret it the moment they step out of the aircraft.
Newark is for ugly goombahs and other sleazoids.
Mosquitos love Newark Airport.
Newark Airport gets it’s water from horribly polluted sources.
Unless you’re a greasy slob, use LaGuardia or Idlewild!
Disagree on the need for LA to have a single airport code — the urban area is so decentralized and public transit options so few that it doesn’t make sense to route some clueless European (probably Italian or Spaniard) to SNA when they want to visit downtown Los Angeles.
They might compete for local traffic, but BWI primarily serves Baltimore. Internationally and locally, DC and Baltimore are separate (when referring to DC internationally it’s talking about IAD). And living around these 3 airports, if you live closer to Baltimore, you’re going to use BWI a lot; and it’s very painful to travel down to DC using 295 in spite of the 30 mile trip. But trying to use Baltimore for international flights is a chore because it has very few international flughts, and you’ll be much better off using IAD to leave directly to another country.
Jersey City is also visible from manhattan, are we going to call that new york too? 0% of people who live in NYC consider Newark/New Jersey new york, because it isn’t.
Sorry Charlie its in NJ,. Im glad you find our airport convienent.
I also enjoy easy proximity to Wo Hops in Chinatown. I don’t pretend its in NJ. That would be silly.
QLA is a red herring.
SNA, LAX and ONT might as well be in different timezones.
Imagine being rerouted to SNA instead of LAX on the last flight in because “hey, it’s the same city.”
Well, I’d like to be able to search for all LA-area airports with one code..
Entitlement at its finest
You call LA home? Now is this also you just claiming somewhere in a way that convenience’s you? Newark is Newark and it’s convenient for people traveling to NY. And for all the NJ haters. Keep hating and don’t come here. We don’t need you.
I don’t get it. Don’t we agree about Newark being a NYC airport?
Lol ok, happy to stay out of that hole…
Um, wasn’t Newark Commercial Airport NYC’s primary airport until Mayor LaGuardia landed there in the 1930s, and upset that the city’s aviation gateway was across the Hudson River in New Jersey instead of within the city limits, put his efforts into building an airport within NY City proper [either at Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn where the Mayor demanded to be ferried to by air after arriving in Newark or North Beach Airport in Queens, which after a $20 million upgrade, which was rechristened at the current LGA as North Beach Municipal Airport-LaGuardia Field in October, 1939]?
So, in reality, Newark’s role as an airport serving NYC predates both LGA and JFK, practically to the dawn of commercial aviation itself.
As to its passenger terminals being shabby and antiquated, the worst legacy Terminal, A, will soon be replaced by a brand new, $2.7 billion 33-gate terminal later this year, with plans to renovate Terminal B to follow.
Who cares about the 1930’s???
Well-written article. It’s just a money-making scheme by UA & LH to hike prices and rip off the unsuspecting public. Sad day for the traveling public.
is New York City paying for the infrastructure surrounding Newark airport. water sewers roads Bridges. PS why are so many New Yorkers moving to New Jersey.
What a braindead take.
As a Newark resident, I have a completely different view.
Newark airport is, obviously, in Newark – a City on the up, that’s desperately trying to change the tired narrative that it’s a dump, that it’s a dangerous, undesirable place to live.
Newark is its own city, it is not a borough of NYC. It has its own rich history, personality, and reasons to visit.
For the average, non local, person traveling to NYC via EWR, may never step foot in the city of Newark because they are not aware of what it has to offer independent of NYC.
Hopefully a move like this allows Newark to take back some of it’s identity, ownership of it’s incredible assets, and draw more people to what it has to offer instead of being a convenient stepping stone only to NYC.
You’ll have to change how you search for flights now? Boo hoo, get over yourself.
For those of us that live in new jersey, LaGuardia and Kennedy are extremely inconvenient airports to travel to. But I’ve always considered JFK and LaGuardia to be Newark airports, not Newark to be New York airports. We’re fortunate to have newer, a world-class airport in which you can travel almost anywhere in the world. No reason to go into new york, especially since JFK is a dumb and the renovations that LaGuardia are confounding at best. Regardless, tons of New Yorkers come to Newark airport because it is frankly extremely convenient to Manhattan and has excellent public transportation. As for New Yorkers moving to New Jersey please don’t. Stay where you are! You are not wanted, welcome or needed here.
If you think EWR is NYC, you are doing it wrong. Geography is most certainly is not destiny. Heathrow is closer to NYC than Newark.
I love Ewr and the amount flights does not compare to jfk old and lga very few choices.
from ewr to new york take the train or a bus !
Instead of making this a religious war over jurisdictions, local identities or semantics, I’m focusing on outcomes. I happen to live in Manhattan, so when I search for flights I want to be able to pick a group of airports that I personally would consider flying out of/back into, without regard to the city limits. I don’t want to have to fuss over it and I don’t want to feel that my choice of airport might negatively impact what I can do in the case of changes, issues or delays.
What I want to know is: Will this make searching for, comparing and choosing flights more difficult? Will I get extra charges if I need to change my airport after initial booking? Will my airline now have an excuse to charge me more as a result? What are the hidden consequences to me of this decision?
What will this do to my convenience and expense of flying? That’s what I want to know! And all the rest is noise….
As a life-long NJ resident I will happily maintain that Newark Liberty is an NJ airport. However, all three NYC airports are maintained by the Port Authority of NY and NJ which has its own jurisdiction and police force.
Rather than worry where the airport is, people should recognize that the Statue of Liberty is in New Jersey!
Will SFO, SJO, & OAK be separated at the request of UA??
They do share the same Bay Area!!
You all are very disrespectful to new jersey qnd including its biggest city newark which that airport is located in its not a nyc airport its a newark north jersey airport totally different state learn to respect state boundaries
Newark is Newark New York is New York.. WTF YALL TALKING ABOUT.. THIS IS ALL ABOUT MONEY IF YOU FROM THE HOOD IN NEWARK YOU KNOW WHAT IM TALKING ABOUT..THEY REALIZE HOOD MF IS TAKING THEY DRUG MONEY AND TRAVELING AND BUYING PROPERTY AND LAND IN OTHER COUNTRIES WITH AMERICAN DOLLARS
Dear Mr. Klint:
It appears that the distance from your home in Los Angeles to the East Coast has blurred your vision, making you believe that northern New Jersey is merely an extension of the largest city in New York State. But should you examine the city in which I was born and raised…Newark…you’d see that the several rivers that separate Newark from New York City create a significant geographic, political, economic, and cultural divide. Newarkers, and indeed all those who live in its metropolitan area, cannot be passed as residents of a hypothetical New York sixth borough.
Newark Airport is owned by the city for which it was named. An agreement many decades ago lets a bistate agency administer operations at Newark but by no means is any right of ownership ceded to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
A trip I’ve taken many times through the parking lots surrounding the airport shows that the facility overwhelming serves residents of New Jersey. The license plates give evidence of that.
Many years ago the late member of Congrss Flo Dwyer of Elizabeth, NJ, was on a flight to Newark when the attendant announced that the plane soon would landing in New York “via Newark terminal”. Some calls to the right people by Rep. Dwyer set the airlines straight and they no longer fool their passengers into thinking that the plane will touch down in New York City.
I applaud the move to change the description of Newark Airport by the IATA. There will be many proud and appreciative residents of the Newark metro area when that happens.
I’m a Harlem resident and would disagree with any that claim Newark shouldn’t be a NYC Airport. How many airports are not in the actual city. For example Reagan and Dulles are in the state of Virginia but listed as DC airports. It should be about the greater metropolitan areas not one city.