Chicago to Minneapolis

Between Chicago and Minneapolis, 1.8 million passengers flew nonstop in 2025, on 18 thousand flights of about 338 miles and 1.0 hours in the air. The average passenger accounted for about 82 kg of CO2 from the fuel burned, from 57 kg on Sun Country Airlines to 119 kg on SkyWest Airlines.

82 kgCO2 per passenger, average
338 milesabout 1.0 hours in the air
1.8 millionpassengers in 2025
79%of seats filled

CO2 per passenger, airline by airline

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

Chicago to Minneapolis by airline, 2025

Airline	Share of passengers	Flights (thousands)	Main aircraft	Seats per flight	Seats filled	kg CO2 per passenger
United Airlines	33%	4.8	Boeing 737-800, Airbus A320-200	158	79%	73
Southwest Airlines	22%	3.3	Boeing 737-700, Boeing 737 MAX 8	163	74%	73
Delta Air Lines	19%	3.6		118	83%	83
SkyWest Airlines	8%	2.5	Embraer 175	75	77%	119
Envoy Air	6%	1.8	Embraer 175	70	86%	112
American Airlines	4%	0.7	Boeing 737-800, Airbus A319	159	67%	88
Republic Airways	3%	1.0	Embraer 175	76	87%	100
Sun Country Airlines	3%	0.4	Boeing 737-800	186	82%	57

What explains the differences

It's number 81 of the 100 busiest city pairs by passengers, and number 94 for the lowest CO2 per mile flown (0.24 kg per passenger-mile, number 1 being the lowest). A typical route of 338 miles in this set comes out at about 70 kg, so this one is 17% above it.

The flights use more than one pair of airports: ORD to MSP (71%), MDW to MSP (29%). The figures here cover all of them.

The airlines on this route differ by 106% per passenger. Sun Country Airlines burned 898 gallons per flight and 152 passengers on each, and SkyWest Airlines 705 gallons and 58 passengers. The gap comes from how many passengers share each flight, not from fuel burned per flight. Sun Country Airlines flew 82% full here against 77% for SkyWest Airlines, flying mostly Boeing 737-800 against Embraer 175.

For comparison, the EPA default factor for a flight of this length (0.129 kg per passenger-mile) would give 44 kg. The EPA figure is a national average for flights of that length. The measured figure for this route is 88% higher.

2019 compared with 2025

In 2019 the route carried 2.4 million passengers on 24 thousand flights. In 2025 it carried 1.8 million, down 24%, on 18 thousand flights, down 23%. The average flight had 123 seats then and 127 now, and 81% of them were filled against 79%.

CO2 per passenger was 83 kg in 2019 and 82 kg in 2025, down 0.8%. Fuel burned per flight was down 1.2% (848 gallons to 838) and passengers per flight were down 0.4% (100 to 100). The distance flown was about the same (339 miles then, 338 now).

United Airlines led in both years, with 21% of passengers in 2019 and 33% in 2025. American Airlines lost the most, 17% to 4%.

Airline by airline, Southwest Airlines went from 78 kg to 73 kg per passenger (145 seats per flight to 163, main aircraft Boeing 737-700 in both years); United Airlines went from 68 kg to 73 kg per passenger (160 seats per flight to 158, main aircraft Boeing 737-900ER then and Boeing 737-800 now).

Chicago to Minneapolis, 2019 and 2025

Measure	2019	2025
Passengers (thousands)	2,380	1,813
Flights (thousands)	23.8	18.2
Seats filled	81%	79%
Gallons of fuel per flight	848	838
kg CO2 per passenger	83	82

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.

Chicago to Minneapolis and back: time in the air

The time in the air is almost the same each way: 63 minutes on average from Chicago to Minneapolis and 60 minutes back. A difference of 4 minutes is within what routing and congestion alone produce.

Time in the air by direction, 2025

Direction	Average minutes in the air	Flights
Chicago to Minneapolis	63.3	9,075
Minneapolis to Chicago	59.8	9,114

Fly or drive

Driving is about 395 miles by road, which we estimate as 1.17 times the straight-line distance. An average car emits about 117 kg of CO2 on the trip, at the EPA figure of 0.297 kg per vehicle-mile. Alone, that's 43% more than the 82 kg for a passenger on the flight.

With 2 people in the car, driving comes out lower per person than the flight (59 kg each, and 29 kg each for four). A larger SUV or pickup (0.394 kg per mile) would emit about 156 kg per vehicle.

A direct Amtrak train serves both cities. Using the EPA figure for other Amtrak routes (0.149 kg per passenger-mile) and a rail distance about equal to the road distance, a train passenger would account for roughly 59 kg, 28% less than the flight.

CO2 per person, Chicago to Minneapolis. 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: O'Hare International Airport, Midway 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.