Port Authority Reports Facility Volumes For September 2025

[By: Port Authority of New York and New Jersey]

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey today announced that its commercial airports served approximately 11.7 million passengers in September 2025. PATH commuter rail notched its second-busiest month since February 2020 and also posted several new record highs for single-day ridership since the pandemic, reaching a new high of 79 percent of pre-pandemic ridership. The Port of New York and New Jersey continued its domination among East Coast ports, finishing the month as the second-busiest U.S. port for loaded containers, while the agency’s vehicular crossings showed strong performance consistent with the prior year. 

Airports:
The Port Authority’s four commercial airports welcomed approximately 11.7 million passengers in September 2025. This was a decline of 2.4 percent from September 2024, the busiest September ever recorded at the agency’s airports. The decline was largely due to an increase in severe weather events, as well as continued Federal Aviation Administration operational and staffing challenges at Newark Liberty International Airport.

Passenger volumes declined in September 2025 compared to record volumes in September 2024. Relative to September 2024, passenger volume at Newark Liberty International Airport declined 2.1 percent, John F. Kennedy International Airport volume declined 3.4 percent, and LaGuardia Airport volume was down 0.9 percent, largely due to weather, reduced international travel demand and Newark Liberty’s FAA challenges.

Over the first nine months of the year, approximately 107.1 million passengers have flown through the agency’s commercial airports. This was a decline of 2.2 percent from the same period of 2024.

PATH Commuter Rail:
In September 2025, the PATH commuter rail recorded its second-busiest month since the pandemic. The month’s 5.5 million passengers was a 6.9 percent increase from September 2024. It was 79 percent of pre-pandemic September 2019’s passenger total, a new high-water mark for the system.

The average weekday ridership in September 2025 was the highest of any month since the pandemic, at 217,831 riders. Throughout the month, the system repeatedly shattered its previous single-day post-pandemic ridership record of 237,038 passengers set on June 18, 2024, exceeding that total on four separate days: Sept. 9, 10, 16, and 17, 2025. Among those, the new single-day post-pandemic record was set on Sept. 9, when PATH welcomed 243,858 passengers.

PATH ridership grew 7.3 percent over the first nine months of 2025 compared to the same period of 2024. The system served approximately 41.9 million passengers from January to September 2025.

Port of New York and New Jersey:
The Port of New York and New Jersey maintained its status as the second-busiest U.S. port for loaded TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) both for the month of September and over the first nine months of the year. During the month, the seaport handled 484,586 loaded TEUs.

In September 2025, the seaport’s total TEU count reached 740,254. This was 5 percent below September 2024’s TEU figure. Many shippers imported holiday-related cargo earlier in 2025 in anticipation of tariff policy changes.

From January through September, the port handled 6,787,649 TEUs. This was a 3.1 percent increase from the same period of 2024.

Tunnels, Bridges and Terminals:
The agency’s six vehicular crossings recorded 10.2 million eastbound vehicles in September 2025. This was an increase of 0.2 percent from September 2024. Notably, truck volume in September 2025 saw an increase of 7.9 percent over September 2024. Compared to September 2024, September 2025 had one additional weekday, when truck traffic is more robust compared to weekends.

Approximately 90.8 million vehicles used Port Authority crossings over the first nine months of the year. The total was a decline of 0.2 percent from the same period of 2024, when adjusting for that leap year’s extra day.