NEWARK–The Embraer RJ145 regional jet used by United Express to fly between South Bend, Ind., and Newark Liberty has a cruising speed of more than 500 miles per hour.
From takeoff to approach and landing, the flight to New Jersey–operated by ExpressJet for United–typically takes a little over two hours.
But not always.
A report out this week found the most chronically delayed flight in the country was ExpressJet Flight 4154. In December, the most recent data available, most of the 13 flights from Indiana to New Jersey were more than 30 minutes late or canceled more than 92 percent of the time, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics.
Flight 4154 averaged 113 minutes late.
The second most chronically delayed flight was also an ExpressJet flight to Newark, this one from Savannah. It averaged 103 minutes late, with 12 out of 13 flights not arriving on time in December, according to the report.
Nationwide among all airlines, 248 flights were late or canceled more than 50 percent of the time in December, said the federal agency. Nearly a quarter of them were ExpressJet flights–and a large number of those flights either arrived or took off from Newark, the numbers show.
How United became the airline flyers love to hate
Express Jet, which operates as American Eagle, Delta Connection and United Express, blamed its laggard performance into Newark this past December on the weather.
“ExpressJet’s rankings on the recent Bureau of Transportation Statistics report can be attributed to inclement weather in Newark, as well as air traffic control delay programs implemented by the Newark Liberty International Airport,” said the company in a statement.
It added that another potential factor was that Newark Liberty is no longer a “slot-controlled” airport, which means there are no restrictions on how many flights are operated per hour.
“Delays can occur more frequently due to additional air traffic congestion,” the company said.
ExpressJet said Flight 4154 was scheduled in December to fly between South Bend and Newark 13 times. Officials said it was canceled twice due to weather and air traffic control issues and delayed 10 times out of the 11 operated.
The airline said nine of the 10 delays were related to weather or air traffic control.
Thursday this week was a better day. The flight from South Bend arrived at the gate 26 minutes early.
United Airlines did not respond to requests for comment.
The United Express flight to South Bend is popular with students from New Jersey who attend Notre Dame.
Ted Sherman may be reached at tsherman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @TedShermanSL. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
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