United Airlines plans to hire over 2,500 new employees at Newark Liberty International Airport by the end of 2026 as part of its ongoing efforts to improve operations and restore traveler confidence. This announcement comes after a period earlier in the year when technology outages at Newark caused significant flight delays and cancellations, contributing to air traffic controller shortages.
According to United CEO Scott Kirby, operational improvements have already led to record performance for the airline at Newark this past summer. “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,” Kirby said. He added that as federal agencies continue to increase staffing and update technology, “reliability and on-time performance of Newark will only get better.”
The airport saw more than 6 million passengers fly on time during the summer season, putting it on par with other major New York City area airports like John F. Kennedy International Airport and LaGuardia Airport.
Key steps taken include early completion of runway construction on June 2 and an upgrade by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) allowing up to 72 flights per hour through summer 2026. The FAA also installed a new fiber optic network in July aimed at supporting air traffic control systems that previously suffered from communication failures.
United now employs over 14,000 people in the Newark/New York City region, including more than 3,000 pilots and over 5,700 flight attendants. The planned hiring will add substantially to this workforce as United expands service.
Looking ahead, United intends to serve more than 160 destinations from Newark this fall and winter—more than any other airline in the area—with additional flights scheduled for cities such as Rome, Venice, Porto, Marrakesh, Dublin domestically Orlando and Fort Lauderdale as well as new destinations like Palm Springs (California), Columbia (South Carolina), and Chattanooga (Tennessee).
In addition to expanding routes and staff numbers, United aims to lead sustainability initiatives at Newark by introducing sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). The company plans to purchase up to one million gallons from Neste for use at EWR this year. In total across its network for 2024 alone, United purchased more than thirteen million gallons of SAF—more than any other U.S. airline—to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to eighty percent compared with traditional jet fuels.
