PANYNJ airports record second busiest first quarter ever

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey today announced that during the first three months of 2025, passenger volumes at its commercial airports were the second busiest in agency’s history. The Port of New York and New Jersey was the busiest port in the nation for loaded imports and exports in March, handling 516,757 loaded TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units). On the PATH commuter rail system, March volumes were 74 percent of pre-pandemic ridership and outpaced the prior year by more than 10 percent, while the agency’s bridges and tunnels were down 2.4 percent compared to the first quarter of 2024.

Airports:

Over the first quarter of 2025, the Port Authority’s commercial airports welcomed a total of 31.9 million passengers, finishing just below last year’s record volumes of 32.3 million passengers served over the same period of 2024, the airports’ busiest year ever.

The agency’s commercial airports recorded 11.6 million passengers in March 2025, a 3 percent decrease from March 2024. Several factors contributed to the modest downturn in passenger volume compared to March 2024, including a greater number of severe weather events than in March 2024 and the Easter 2025 holiday travel weekend occurring in the second quarter this year and not the first quarter as it did in 2024.

Port of New York and New Jersey:

The Port of New York and New Jersey was the busiest port in the country as measured by loaded containers in March, handling 516,757 loaded TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units). This was a 9.7 percent increase from March 2024. Overall, the port handled 783,732 TEUs in March.

PATH Commuter Rail:

The PATH commuter rail system served 5 million passengers in March 2025, reaching 74 percent of pre-pandemic March 2019 levels. It was also a robust 11 percent increase from March 2024. Average weekday ridership in March 2025 was 194,127 passengers, a 9 percent jump from March 2024 and 69 percent of the same metric in March 2019.

Weekend ridership in March 2025 surpassed pre-pandemic levels, jumping 7 percent on Saturdays and 5 percent on Sundays from March 2019.

The PATH system served 13.4 million passengers over the first quarter of 2025. This was a 5.7 percent increase from the same period of 2024. It was 70 percent of volume from the same period of pre-pandemic 2019.

Tunnels, Bridges and Terminals:

The agency’s six vehicular crossings served 10 million eastbound vehicles in March 2025, which was down 0.5 percent from March 2024.

Over the first three months of the year, the 27.8 million eastbound vehicles recorded were consistent with volume seen over the same period of pre-pandemic 2019 and were down 2.4 percent from the same period of 2024. Several timing factors affected these comparisons, including the first quarter of 2024 having an extra day due to the leap year, the first quarter of 2025 having more severe weather days than the first quarter of 2024, and the Easter 2025 holiday travel weekend occurring in the second quarter this year and not the first quarter as it did in 2024. These factors, among others, make the impact of the Central Business District Tolling Program difficult to analyze until more data is available.