Chicago to Orlando

Between Chicago and Orlando, 2.6 million passengers flew nonstop in 2025, on 17 thousand flights of about 1,000 miles and 2.3 hours in the air. The average passenger accounted for about 137 kg of CO2 from the fuel burned, from 114 kg on Spirit Airlines to 155 kg on American Airlines.

137 kgCO2 per passenger, average
1,000 milesabout 2.3 hours in the air
2.6 millionpassengers in 2025
83%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 Orlando by airline, 2025

Airline	Share of passengers	Flights (thousands)	Main aircraft	Seats per flight	Seats filled	kg CO2 per passenger
Southwest Airlines	32%	6.1	Boeing 737 MAX 8, Boeing 737-800	166	82%	138
United Airlines	30%	4.7	Airbus A321neo, Boeing 737-900ER	202	82%	137
American Airlines	21%	3.7	Boeing 737-800, Airbus A321	178	84%	155
Spirit Airlines	9%	1.3	Airbus A321, Airbus A321neo	212	87%	114
Frontier Airlines	8%	1.2	Airbus A320neo, Airbus A321neo	203	84%	114

What explains the differences

It's number 38 of the 100 busiest city pairs by passengers, and number 26 for the lowest CO2 per mile flown (0.14 kg per passenger-mile, number 1 being the lowest). A typical route of 1,000 miles in this set comes out at about 151 kg, so this one is 9.4% below it.

The flights use more than one pair of airports: ORD to MCO (71%), MDW to MCO (30%). The figures here cover all of them.

The airlines on this route differ by 36% per passenger. Spirit Airlines burned 2,155 gallons per flight and 184 passengers on each, and American Airlines 2,382 gallons and 149 passengers. Fuel burned per flight explains about 32% of the gap and the number of passengers on each flight the other 68%. Spirit Airlines flew 87% full here against 84% for American Airlines, flying mostly Airbus A321 against Boeing 737-800.

For comparison, the EPA default factor for a flight of this length (0.129 kg per passenger-mile) would give 129 kg. The EPA figure is a national average for flights of that length. The measured figure for this route is 6.4% higher.

2019 compared with 2025

In 2019 the route carried 2.3 million passengers on 15 thousand flights. In 2025 it carried 2.6 million, up 14%, on 17 thousand flights, up 16%. The average flight had 174 seats then and 185 now, and 89% of them were filled against 83%.

CO2 per passenger was 140 kg in 2019 and 137 kg in 2025, down 2.2%. Fuel burned per flight was down 3.9% (2,245 gallons to 2,158) and passengers per flight were down 1.8% (156 to 153). The distance flown was about the same (1,000 miles then, 1,000 now).

Southwest Airlines led in both years, with 32% of passengers in 2019 and 32% in 2025.

Airline by airline, United Airlines went from 149 kg to 137 kg per passenger (187 seats per flight to 202, main aircraft Boeing 737-900ER then and Airbus A321neo now); American Airlines went from 151 kg to 155 kg per passenger (165 seats per flight to 178, main aircraft Boeing 737-800 in both years).

Chicago to Orlando, 2019 and 2025

Measure	2019	2025
Passengers (thousands)	2,273	2,601
Flights (thousands)	14.6	17.0
Seats filled	89%	83%
Gallons of fuel per flight	2,245	2,158
kg CO2 per passenger	140	137

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 Orlando and back: time in the air

Flights from Orlando to Chicago spent 147 minutes in the air on average in 2025, against 130 minutes from Chicago to Orlando: 17 minutes longer, 13% 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 936 gallons per flight hour, those extra minutes cost about 267 gallons per flight, which is about 1.7 gallons or 17 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
Orlando to Chicago	146.8	8,494
Chicago to Orlando	129.7	8,475

Fly or drive

Driving is about 1,170 miles by road, which we estimate as 1.17 times the straight-line distance. An average car emits about 347 kg of CO2 on the trip, at the EPA figure of 0.297 kg per vehicle-mile. Alone, that's 153% more than the 137 kg for a passenger on the flight.

With 3 people in the car, driving comes out lower per person than the flight (116 kg each, and 87 kg each for four). A larger SUV or pickup (0.394 kg per mile) would emit about 461 kg per vehicle.

CO2 per person, Chicago to Orlando. 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, Orlando 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.