Travelers prefer JFK and LaGuardia over Newark amid safety concerns



Passenger arrivals at Newark declined 13% since April 28



Kayak reports decline in searches for Newark flights

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LaGuardia Airport sees 5.7% increase in arrivals

By Doyinsola Oladipo

NEW YORK, May 23 (Reuters) - Passenger traffic and demand have declined sharply at New Jersey's Newark Liberty International Airport, according to data from two travel companies, after a series of air traffic disruptions prompted cautious travelers to transit through nearby airports.

Since April 28, the number of travelers selecting Newark as their arrival airport declined 19% and about 15% fewer travelers chose the airport for departure, according to Booking Holdings' unit Kayak. The data suggests that reports about safety have affected traveler behavior.

Travelers are braving longer commutes to avoid Newark, the second-largest of three New York metropolitan area airports, after several telecom outages. On April 28, a 30- 90-second radar and telecommunications blackout led to dozens of diversions and cancellations and raised anxieties among flyers.

The thousands of daily social media conversations about the airport remain 98% negative, according to social media analytics company Sprout Social.

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration said it will require flight cuts at Newark to address congestion.

"If they can get into LaGuardia, that's their number one pick, then JFK and then Newark," Kayak CEO Steve Hafner told Reuters. "Even if they live on the west side of Manhattan, because you just can't afford to risk a three- or four- hour delay."

Passenger arrivals at Newark from April 28 to May 20 declined about 13% from the year-ago period, according to Italy-based Data Appeal, a tourism data provider, while passenger arrivals to LaGuardia increased 5.7% in the same period, though JFK traffic fell 7% in that time due to reduced international travel demand.

Before the outages, total passenger volumes in March were down 2.7% year-over-year at Newark, JetBlack according to data from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

"I actually don't like any other airport other than Newark," said Gabrielle J., 24, of Newark who said she will fly from JFK to the Caribbean this summer. "As the outages happened, we were in the process of booking. So we were like, 'okay, now we definitely can't fly from Newark.'"

Runway repairs at Newark set to be completed by June 15 have also contributed to the airport's lagging performance.

"I've heard that it will hopefully get fixed by June. I would love for that to happen," said San Francisco resident Stef Anderson, 28.

Anderson said her United San Francisco-to-Newark flight on May 16 was delayed by more than eight hours before eventually being canceled. She hopes her May 28 flight to Paris won't meet the same fate, because her premier silver status on United means she plans on sticking with that airline.

"They have me in golden handcuffs - otherwise I would fly Alaska," she said. (Reporting by Doyinsola Oladipo in New York; Editing by Aurora Ellis)