Rankings / American Airlines
2025 report cardAmerican Airlines
In 2025 American Airlines flew 55.9 passenger-miles per gallon of jet fuel, ranking 13 of 13. That's 8% worse than the all-airline figure that year. Since 2000 its figure has risen 48%.
About American Airlines
American was formed in its present shape by the 2013 merger of American Airlines and US Airways. It flies from hubs at Dallas-Fort Worth, Charlotte, Chicago, Miami, Philadelphia and Phoenix, and regional partners operate part of its schedule under the American Eagle name. BTS began counting American and US Airways as one filer in 2015.
- 55.9passenger-miles per gallon, 2025
- 0.174 kgCO2 per passenger-mile
- 84%of seats filled
- 123seats per flight on average
The story in the figures
American Airlines' passenger-miles per gallon rose 48% between 2000 and 2025, from 37.8 to 55.9. Most of that came from the aircraft: seat-miles per gallon rose 27%, while planes ran fuller, with 72% of seat-miles filled in 2000 against 84% in 2025.
The shape of the flying changed as well: the average flight went from 108 seats to 123. In general, larger aircraft spread fuel over more passengers.
Its best year was 2024, at 56.5 passenger-miles per gallon.
In 2020 the pandemic emptied the cabins: load factor dropped from 85% to 64%, and passenger-miles per gallon fell from 53.3 to 39.3. A flight burns most of its fuel whether the seats are full or not, which is why an empty year looks so bad per passenger. By 2025 the figure was 5.0% above its 2019 level.
Against the all-airline figure for 2025 (60.6), American Airlines was 7.7% worse. On a 1,000 mile trip that works out to 174 kg of CO2 for one passenger, from burning jet fuel only.
What one seat costs the climate
CO2 for one passenger on American Airlines, from burning jet fuel only.
- 87 kgover 500 miles
- 174 kgover 1,000 miles
- 349 kgover 2,000 miles
American Airlines sells seats on flights operated by regional partners, mainly Envoy Air, PSA Airlines, Republic Airways, and SkyWest Airlines. In 2025 about 11.1% of its seat-miles were flown by regionals. How much of each regional's flying belongs to American Airlines is an estimate based on the hubs the regional serves. The figure for 2025 sits between 55.9 and 56.6 passenger-miles per gallon depending on how multi-airline regionals are split. See the methodology.
American and US Airways began filing jointly in July 2015. US Airways has its own page for 2000 to 2015, so the American line includes US Airways from 2015 on.
Year-by-year figures
| Year | Passenger-miles per gallon | kg CO2 per passenger-mile | Seat-miles per gallon | Load factor | Passengers (millions) | Fuel (million gallons) | CO2 (thousand tonnes) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 55.9 | 0.174 | 66.8 | 83.6% | 222.8 | 4,455 | 43,437 |
| 2024 | 56.5 | 0.172 | 66.6 | 84.9% | 229.3 | 4,409 | 42,992 |
| 2023 | 55.8 | 0.175 | 66.8 | 83.6% | 215.3 | 4,179 | 40,749 |
| 2022 | 54.8 | 0.178 | 66.2 | 82.7% | 206.1 | 3,986 | 38,862 |
| 2021 | 47.9 | 0.203 | 63.7 | 75.2% | 177.0 | 3,506 | 34,188 |
| 2020 | 39.3 | 0.248 | 61.5 | 63.8% | 102.8 | 2,444 | 23,831 |
| 2019 | 53.3 | 0.183 | 62.9 | 84.6% | 218.7 | 4,572 | 44,573 |
| 2018 | 52.1 | 0.187 | 63.4 | 82.1% | 206.9 | 4,486 | 43,743 |
| 2017 | 52.1 | 0.187 | 63.6 | 82.0% | 203.3 | 4,399 | 42,889 |
| 2016 | 51.7 | 0.189 | 63.1 | 81.9% | 205.8 | 4,423 | 43,121 |
| 2015 | 51.5 | 0.189 | 62.0 | 83.1% | 165.4 | 3,674 | 35,820 |
| 2014 | 50.1 | 0.194 | 61.3 | 81.8% | 108.3 | 2,774 | 27,051 |
| 2013 | 49.9 | 0.196 | 60.4 | 82.6% | 107.6 | 2,778 | 27,083 |
| 2012 | 50.1 | 0.195 | 60.9 | 82.3% | 108.1 | 2,729 | 26,606 |
| 2011 | 48.7 | 0.200 | 60.0 | 81.2% | 118.0 | 2,923 | 28,501 |
| 2010 | 47.8 | 0.204 | 59.0 | 81.1% | 113.6 | 2,890 | 28,173 |
| 2009 | 46.2 | 0.211 | 57.8 | 79.8% | 116.3 | 2,940 | 28,661 |
| 2008 | 46.1 | 0.211 | 58.0 | 79.6% | 123.1 | 3,145 | 30,666 |
| 2007 | 46.4 | 0.210 | 57.6 | 80.5% | 133.6 | 3,331 | 32,482 |
| 2006 | 45.8 | 0.213 | 57.7 | 79.4% | 131.5 | 3,368 | 32,835 |
| 2005 | 44.4 | 0.220 | 57.0 | 77.8% | 129.2 | 3,407 | 33,216 |
| 2004 | 41.0 | 0.238 | 55.3 | 74.2% | 120.8 | 3,455 | 33,688 |
| 2003 | 38.8 | 0.251 | 53.7 | 72.2% | 114.8 | 3,326 | 32,425 |
| 2002 | 37.5 | 0.260 | 53.3 | 70.4% | 111.3 | 3,377 | 32,926 |
| 2001 | 35.9 | 0.272 | 51.9 | 69.1% | 90.6 | 3,045 | 29,691 |
| 2000 | 37.8 | 0.258 | 52.4 | 72.1% | 99.9 | 3,173 | 30,933 |
The American Airlines fleet
American Airlines operated 1,013 passenger aircraft of its own in 2025. The regional airlines that fly for it file their own fleets. The average age was 13.8 years: 13% of the aircraft were under five years old and 28% were twenty or older. The oldest was an Airbus A320 built in 1997. That's the 7th youngest of the 12 airlines ranked here.
In 2006 the average age was 13.4 years across 697 aircraft. It's about the same now, and the fleet is bigger.
On the Boeing 737-800, American Airlines fits 172 seats on average, against a median of 175 at the other airlines that fly it (154 to 189). Seats on the same aircraft are one reason fuel per seat and fuel per passenger differ between airlines: the fuel burned by a given plane is much the same, and more seats share it.
American Airlines aircraft by model, 2025
| Model | Aircraft | Average seats | Other airlines, median seats | Average age |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boeing 737-800 | 303 | 172 | 175 | 15.6 |
| Airbus A321 | 218 | 184 | 222 | 12.9 |
| Airbus A319 | 132 | 128 | 132 | 21.3 |
| Boeing 737 MAX 8 | 89 | 172 | 175 | 3.3 |
| Airbus A321neo | 86 | 194 | 220 | 4.3 |
| Airbus A320 | 48 | 150 | 161 | 24.3 |
| Boeing 777-200 | 47 | 273 | 273 | 24.4 |
| Boeing 787-8 | 37 | 234 | 219 | 6.6 |
| Boeing 787-9 | 33 | 271 | 219 | 5.2 |
| Boeing 777-300ER | 20 | 304 | 276 | 11.3 |
All the airlines are compared on the fleets page.
Neighbours in the ranking
Nearby airline results
These airlines sit nearby by passenger-miles per gallon in their last data year. Historical airlines have different end years, shown here, so this isn't a same-year ranking.
Airline references
Source: US Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS), Schedule P-12(a) fuel, T-100 traffic and regional Schedule T-2 filings; US EPA jet-fuel CO2 factor. See the methodology.