Newark fell off the Northwest Arkansas National Airport route map a few years ago, but United Airlines plans to restart service to New Jersey’s largest city later this year.
When a United jet takes off for Newark Liberty International Airport on Sept. 24, XNA will officially add its 28th nonstop destination.
When the Newark-to-XNA route was canceled in mid-2022, United described it as a permanent elimination. But everything in aviation is subject to change.
That opportunity arose a few weeks ago when JetBlue made it known that it would be reducing service at Newark and New York LaGuardia in favor of putting more focus on flights to and from Florida airports, according to The Suncoast Post, an online news outlet in Florida. That shift created an opportunity for United to access JetBlue gates at Newark and restart flights to Northwest Arkansas.
United’s return to Newark gives Northwest Arkansas passengers a third nonstop option for flying to the New York/Newark market, which is the No. 1 destination for XNA passengers, ahead of No. 2 Chicago and No. 3 Los Angeles.
American Airlines has dominated travel from XNA to the New York/Newark market over the past year, capturing 114 of the 184 passengers who fly to the Big Apple on a given day with its service to New York LaGuardia. American’s current schedule has it making three trips a day to LaGuardia on most days.
Delta Air Lines, which flies nonstop from XNA to LaGuardia once each day, carries about 61 passengers. About nine passengers a day have continued to use United to get to Newark even though there is no longer a nonstop option.
When United provided nonstop service to Newark, it captured a meaningful portion of the XNA travelers headed to the New York market.
An airline consultant’s report from late 2019, one of the last published before the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted air travel, showed American was leading the way on trips from XNA to the New York market, carrying 96 passengers a day. United’s flights to Newark carried 44 passengers a day, while Delta’s trips to LaGuardia carried 39.
None of those numbers include XNA passengers who use a New York-area airport as a connection before continuing to another destination.
“Newark changes the scale of what travelers can reach from Northwest Arkansas,” said Andrew Branch, chief operating officer at XNA. “It gives our community another nonstop option for New York City, but the larger opportunity is what comes beyond Newark. With one connection, Northwest Arkansas travelers will have access to destinations throughout Europe, Africa, the Middle East, India and other parts of the world. For a region with global businesses, global supply chains and global ambitions, this is an incredibly valuable addition.”
United’s Newark hub offers nonstop service to more than 40 destinations across Europe, Africa, the Middle East and India, including new service between Newark and Seoul, South Korea, beginning Sept. 4.
“This service is about more than adding another city to our map,” Branch said. “It is about connecting Northwest Arkansas more directly with the people, markets and opportunities that drive our region forward. Newark gives our passengers a strong local destination and a powerful global gateway in a single route.”
From a business perspective, United’s nonstop service to Newark provides value to Bentonville-based Walmart and Walmart suppliers with at least a portion of their headquarters operations in New Jersey.
Walmart has a large office in Hoboken, New Jersey.
Walmart suppliers with major operations in New Jersey include Johnson & Johnson, Cognizant, Unilever, Mars and LG Electronics USA. Unilever’s U.S. headquarters and Mars’ U.S. snacking and pet care headquarters are located in the state.
