Atlanta to Boston

Between Atlanta and Boston, 1.8 million passengers flew nonstop in 2025, on 12 thousand flights of about 939 miles and 2.2 hours in the air. The average passenger accounted for about 143 kg of CO2 from the fuel burned, from 114 kg on Spirit Airlines to 168 kg on JetBlue.

143 kgCO2 per passenger, average
939 milesabout 2.2 hours in the air
1.8 millionpassengers in 2025
86%of seats filled

CO2 per passenger, airline by airline

Kilograms of CO2 per passenger, one way, 2025. Fuel burned only. Less is better.

Atlanta to Boston by airline, 2025

Airline	Share of passengers	Flights (thousands)	Main aircraft	Seats per flight	Seats filled	kg CO2 per passenger
Delta Air Lines	80%	9.2	Airbus A321, Airbus A320-200	184	87%	142
JetBlue	12%	1.8	Airbus A220-300, Airbus A320-200	145	84%	168
Spirit Airlines	4%	0.5	Airbus A320neo, Airbus A321neo	192	82%	114
Frontier Airlines	4%	0.5	Airbus A320neo, Airbus A321neo	212	74%	120

What explains the differences

It's number 78 of the 100 busiest city pairs by passengers, and number 51 for the lowest CO2 per mile flown (0.15 kg per passenger-mile, number 1 being the lowest). A typical route of 939 miles in this set comes out at about 144 kg, so this one is close to that.

The flights use more than one pair of airports: ATL to BOS (85%), ATL to PVD (16%), ATL to MHT (0%). The figures here cover all of them.

The airlines on this route differ by 48% per passenger. Spirit Airlines burned 1,839 gallons per flight and 157 passengers on each, and JetBlue 2,090 gallons and 121 passengers. Fuel burned per flight explains about 33% of the gap and the number of passengers on each flight the other 67%. Spirit Airlines flew 82% full here against 84% for JetBlue, flying mostly Airbus A320neo against Airbus A220-300.

For comparison, the EPA default factor for a flight of this length (0.129 kg per passenger-mile) would give 121 kg. The EPA figure is a national average for flights of that length. The measured figure for this route is 18% higher.

2019 compared with 2025

In 2019 the route carried 2.2 million passengers on 15 thousand flights. In 2025 it carried 1.8 million, down 18%, on 12 thousand flights, down 21%. The average flight had 169 seats then and 179 now, and 87% of them were filled against 86%.

CO2 per passenger was 149 kg in 2019 and 143 kg in 2025, down 3.9%. Fuel burned per flight was down 0.1% (2,257 gallons to 2,256) and passengers per flight were up 4.0% (148 to 154). The distance flown was about the same (940 miles then, 939 now).

Delta Air Lines led in both years, with 80% of passengers in 2019 and 80% in 2025. Frontier Airlines didn't have 1% of the passengers in 2019 and now carries 4%. Southwest Airlines no longer reaches 1% of passengers, having had 3% in 2019.

Airline by airline, JetBlue went from 189 kg to 168 kg per passenger (129 seats per flight to 145, main aircraft Airbus A320-200 then and Airbus A220-300 now); Delta Air Lines went from 143 kg to 142 kg per passenger (182 seats per flight to 184, main aircraft Airbus A321 in both years).

Atlanta to Boston, 2019 and 2025

Measure	2019	2025
Passengers (thousands)	2,234	1,827
Flights (thousands)	15.1	11.9
Seats filled	87%	86%
Gallons of fuel per flight	2,257	2,256
kg CO2 per passenger	149	143

Kilograms of CO2 per passenger on the airlines that flew the route in both years. 2019 figures use that year's filings and estimated aircraft fuel rates, with type-average replacements for missing or outlying filings as described in the methodology. Less is better.

Atlanta to Boston and back: time in the air

Flights from Boston to Atlanta spent 138 minutes in the air on average in 2025, against 122 minutes from Atlanta to Boston: 17 minutes longer, 14% more. That's the westbound direction, into the prevailing west-to-east winds, which at flight levels often blow at well over 50 miles an hour.

At this route's average burn of about 1,042 gallons per flight hour, those extra minutes cost about 288 gallons per flight, which is about 1.9 gallons or 18 kg of CO2 for each passenger on the slower direction. The route figure above averages both directions.

Time in the air by direction, 2025

Direction	Average minutes in the air	Flights
Boston to Atlanta	138.2	5,937
Atlanta to Boston	121.6	5,959

Fly or drive

Driving is about 1,099 miles by road, which we estimate as 1.17 times the straight-line distance. An average car emits about 326 kg of CO2 on the trip, at the EPA figure of 0.297 kg per vehicle-mile. Alone, that's 128% more than the 143 kg for a passenger on the flight.

With 3 people in the car, driving comes out lower per person than the flight (109 kg each, and 82 kg each for four). A larger SUV or pickup (0.394 kg per mile) would emit about 433 kg per vehicle.

CO2 per person, Atlanta to Boston. Driving figures divide one car's emissions between the people in it. See flying vs driving for other trip lengths.

Flights are listed under the airline that operates them, so regional flying appears under the regional. How the CO2 and drive figures are worked out is in the methodology.

Routes with shared cities or nearby CO2 per mile

Airports on this route: Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

Airport and airline references

Source: US Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS), T-100 traffic and Schedule T-2 fuel filings; US EPA transport emission factors. See the methodology.

See all routes, or how the airlines compare overall on the airline pages.