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In short: Airport trips are long. The median app trip from JFK was 17.2 miles and 43 minutes and paid the driver $54.41 before tips. From LaGuardia it was 9.5 miles, 33 minutes and $38.65. Trips to Newark paid a median $56.18. A median app trip that didn't touch an airport paid $14.71 for 2.6 miles. Yellow taxis made about 4.6 times as many pickups as drop-offs at JFK. App drivers ended slightly more trips at the airports than they started there. All figures are from TLC trip records for September 2025 to August 2026.
The numbers at a glance
App trips: airport vs everything else
"Passenger fare" is base_passenger_fare: before tolls, tips, taxes and fees. "Driver pay" is TLC's driver_pay: "total driver pay (not including tolls or tips and net of commission, surcharges, or taxes)". Each trip is counted in one row only, and a trip that starts at an airport goes in its "From" row. So a LaGuardia-to-Newark trip is in "From LaGuardia", and the "To" rows are trips that started somewhere other than an airport.
Per trip, an airport run pays several times a typical city trip. But the table counts only time with a passenger. It does not include the time you wait in a staging lot or drive back empty, so it can't tell you whether airport work pays more per hour.
Averages from the dataset
The JFK zone summary breaks the same trips down by industry, including the yellow taxi tip rate (card trips only) and the share of trips charged the Manhattan congestion relief zone fee:
Pickups vs drop-offs: who comes back empty
What this shows:
- Yellow taxis start far more trips at JFK and LaGuardia than they end there. The taxi line brings passengers to them on the way out. The records don't show how riders who leave by taxi got to the airport.
- App drivers end slightly more trips at JFK and LaGuardia than they start there. So not every app drop-off at those airports is followed by an app pickup there.
- Newark is a one-way airport for NYC vehicles. About 1.98 million NYC yellow, green and app trips ended there, and almost none started there. On a Newark taxi trip, TLC's fare rule makes the passenger pay your return tolls (Rule 58-26(c)(3)).
Airport fees in the records
The trip records also show the Port Authority's access fee changing. On app trips at the three airports, the most common airport_fee was $2.50 through February 2026 and $3.50 from March 2026. On yellow taxi pickups at JFK and LaGuardia it was $1.75, then $2.00 (our count). That matches the Port Authority's approved schedule from March 15, 2026. In the records the fee is its own field, separate from driver_pay.
What the data can't tell you
- Hourly earnings. Waiting and empty miles are not in the records.
- Cash tips in taxis are not recorded. Taxi tip rates are for card trips only.
- Black car and livery trips that are not Uber or Lyft trips have no fare or pay fields, so they are not here.
- Uber vs Lyft. This page combines both companies.
When the pickups happen is on airport pickups by hour, and where airport riders come from is on where airport trips start. See also airport fee trip statistics, the airport fee on an Uber receipt, the short haul glossary entry, JFK vs LaGuardia vs Newark, NYC airport trip statistics, Port Authority TLC summonses and the airports topic.
Frequently asked questions
How much does an Uber or Lyft driver make on a JFK trip?
In TLC trip records for Sep 2025 – Aug 2026, the median app driver pay on trips starting at JFK was $54.41, before tips. The median trip was 17.2 miles and 43 minutes. That doesn't include time spent waiting in the airport lot.
Are airport trips better paid than other trips?
Per trip, yes: the median app trip that didn't touch JFK, LaGuardia or Newark paid $14.71 for 2.6 miles. Per hour it is less clear, because airport trips need long waits in the queue or an empty drive back, and the records don't show either.
Do taxis get more airport pickups or drop-offs?
Many more pickups. Yellow taxis made 1,828,649 pickups at JFK but only 395,076 drop-offs there in the 12 months. App trips are more balanced, with slightly more drop-offs than pickups at both JFK and LaGuardia.
Are cash tips included in the taxi tip rate?
No. Taxi tip figures come from credit-card trips only, because cash tips are not recorded in the trip data.
Sources
Last reviewed against the official sources on .
- NYC TLC Trip Record Data (yellow, green, high-volume FHV), Sep 2025 – Aug 2026 nyc.gov
- TLC Data Dictionary: High Volume FHV Trip Records nyc.gov
- TLC Data Dictionary: Yellow Taxi Trip Records (March 18, 2025) nyc.gov
- NYC Open Data: Pickups and Drop-offs by Taxi Zone and Industry (c5iv-bn4s) data.cityofnewyork.us
- Port Authority: Approved Airport Ground Transportation Access Fee panynj.gov
Spotted something out of date? Tell us and we'll check it against the official source.
TLC Help is not a law firm and is not affiliated with the NYC Taxi & Limousine Commission or OATH. Explanations on this site are general information, not legal advice. Legal representation is provided by independent attorneys and OATH-registered representatives in our network.