Newark Airport, No Longer Considered a NYC Hub?

DALLAS - Newark Liberty International (EWR) will no longer be considered a New York City-area airport due to an upcoming change in its city code starting October 3.

Three airports are likely to come up when you ask most New Yorkers to name the city's main airports: John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK), LaGuardia Airport (LGA), and Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR).

Even though Newark is technically in New Jersey, it is closer to parts of Manhattan than JFK and is unquestionably a major participant in the city's aviation industry.

However, one of our born and raised in Newark readers made the point that EWR is mostly owned by the City of Newark. He states that surveys show that the vast majority of travelers passing through EWR come from homes and businesses in northern and central New Jersey, not New York.

Regardless, a Lufthansa Group (LH) email that went viral on Twitter this week claims that EWR is being split off from its Big Apple partners. The LH memo notes the International Air Transport Association (IATA) has introduced a new standard for "Multi-Airport Cities," which are metropolitan areas with multiple airports that are united under one IATA city code.

"The primary way this change could impact travelers is by limiting their options to freely change flights," Scott Keyes, founder of Scott's Cheap Flights, explained to travelandleisure.com. "Currently, many airlines allow travelers to switch flights within a city code — say, from arriving in JFK to arriving in LGA — without a penalty. Removing EWR from the NYC city code could restrict that option for many passengers."

The Lufthansa memo also mentions that changing your destination from Newark to JFK or JFK to Newark may result in a price change.

While each airport also has its own airport code (EWR, JFK, LGA), they are all listed under the city code NYC for the New York metro area. However, the new IATA standard, which will take effect on October 3 and replace the NYC city code, will give Newark its own city code.

Newark Liberty will operate under a different pricing structure from JFK and LaGuardia, according to the Lufthansa memo. Could that be advantageous for tourists? Perhaps, since it could get more affordable to fly into New Jersey than into New York. It could also be the other way around. We'll just have to wait and see in two weeks.

The airport is set to open its new Terminal A in November, according to a United Airlines (UA) memo, and the airline will be the primary tenant of the new terminal.

Featured image: Newark Liberty International Airport