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Rankings / Routes / Los Angeles to Portland

2025 flights

Los Angeles to Portland

Between Los Angeles and Portland, 1.9 million passengers flew nonstop in 2025, on 17 thousand flights of about 837 miles and 2.0 hours in the air. The average passenger accounted for about 138 kg of CO2 from the fuel burned, from 96 kg on Frontier Airlines to 206 kg on SkyWest Airlines.

  • 138 kgCO2 per passenger, average
  • 837 milesabout 2.0 hours in the air
  • 1.9 millionpassengers in 2025
  • 80%of seats filled

CO2 per passenger, airline by airline

CO2 per passenger by airline, Los Angeles to PortlandBar chart of kilograms of CO2 per passenger on each airline between Los Angeles and Portland in 2025.050100150200Frontier Airlines96 kgAlaska Airlines125 kgHorizon Air168 kgDelta Air Lines172 kgSkyWest Airlines206 kg
CO2 per passenger by airline, Los Angeles to PortlandBar chart of kilograms of CO2 per passenger on each airline between Los Angeles and Portland in 2025.0100200Frontier Airlines96 kgAlaska Airlines125 kgHorizon Air168 kgDelta Air Lines172 kgSkyWest Airlines206 kg
Kilograms of CO2 per passenger, one way, 2025. Fuel burned only. Less is better.
Los Angeles to Portland by airline, 2025
AirlineShare of passengersFlights (thousands)Main aircraftSeats per flightSeats filledkg CO2 per passenger
Alaska Airlines65%9.3Boeing 737-800, Boeing 737-900ER16880%125
Delta Air Lines18%3.3Airbus A319, Boeing 737-80013975%172
Frontier Airlines7%0.8Airbus A320neo, Airbus A321neo20881%96
Horizon Air5%1.5Embraer 1757692%168
SkyWest Airlines5%1.6Embraer 1757182%206

What explains the differences

It's number 74 of the 100 busiest city pairs by passengers, and number 66 for the lowest CO2 per mile flown (0.17 kg per passenger-mile, number 1 being the lowest). A typical route of 837 miles in this set comes out at about 131 kg, so this one is 5.1% above it.

The flights use more than one pair of airports: LAX to PDX (54%), SNA to PDX (21%), BUR to PDX (14%). The figures here cover all of them.

The airlines on this route differ by 116% per passenger. Frontier Airlines burned 1,646 gallons per flight and 168 passengers on each, and SkyWest Airlines 1,239 gallons and 59 passengers. The gap comes from how many passengers share each flight, not from fuel burned per flight. Frontier Airlines flew 81% full here against 82% for SkyWest Airlines, flying mostly Airbus A320neo against Embraer 175.

For comparison, the EPA default factor for a flight of this length (0.129 kg per passenger-mile) would give 108 kg. The EPA figure is a national average for flights of that length. The measured figure for this route is 28% higher.

2019 compared with 2025

In 2019 the route carried 2.3 million passengers on 21 thousand flights. In 2025 it carried 1.9 million, down 17%, on 17 thousand flights, down 20%. The average flight had 131 seats then and 146 now, and 86% of them were filled against 80%.

CO2 per passenger was 145 kg in 2019 and 138 kg in 2025, down 4.5%. Fuel burned per flight was down 0.4% (1,660 gallons to 1,654) and passengers per flight were up 4.3% (112 to 117). The distance flown was about the same (836 miles then, 837 now).

Alaska Airlines led in both years, with 51% of passengers in 2019 and 65% in 2025. Frontier Airlines didn't have 1% of the passengers in 2019 and now carries 7%. Southwest Airlines and Compass Airlines and JetBlue no longer reach 1% of passengers, having had 24% in 2019.

Airline by airline, Alaska Airlines went from 132 kg to 125 kg per passenger (158 seats per flight to 168, main aircraft Boeing 737-800 in both years); Delta Air Lines went from 160 kg to 172 kg per passenger (128 seats per flight to 139, main aircraft Airbus A319 in both years).

The airports changed too: LAX to PDX handled 61% of the passengers in 2019 and 54% in 2025.

Los Angeles to Portland, 2019 and 2025
Measure20192025
Passengers (thousands)2,3101,927
Flights (thousands)20.616.5
Seats filled86%80%
Gallons of fuel per flight1,6601,654
kg CO2 per passenger145138
CO2 per passenger by airline, 2019 and 2025, Los Angeles to PortlandBar chart of kilograms of CO2 per passenger on Los Angeles to Portland for each major airline in 2019 and in 2025.050100150200Alaska Airlines 2019132 kgAlaska Airlines 2025125 kgDelta Air Lines 2019160 kgDelta Air Lines 2025172 kgHorizon Air 2019181 kgHorizon Air 2025168 kgSkyWest Airlines 2019180 kgSkyWest Airlines 2025206 kg
CO2 per passenger by airline, 2019 and 2025, Los Angeles to PortlandBar chart of kilograms of CO2 per passenger on Los Angeles to Portland for each major airline in 2019 and in 2025.0100200Alaska Airlines 2019132 kgAlaska Airlines 2025125 kgDelta Air Lines 2019160 kgDelta Air Lines 2025172 kgHorizon Air 2019181 kgHorizon Air 2025168 kgSkyWest Airlines 2019180 kgSkyWest Airlines 2025206 kg
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.

Los Angeles to Portland and back: time in the air

The time in the air is almost the same each way: 119 minutes on average from Los Angeles to Portland and 116 minutes back. A difference of 3 minutes is within what routing and congestion alone produce.

Time in the air by direction, 2025
DirectionAverage minutes in the airFlights
Los Angeles to Portland119.18,267
Portland to Los Angeles116.48,249

Fly or drive

Driving is about 979 miles by road, which we estimate as 1.17 times the straight-line distance. An average car emits about 291 kg of CO2 on the trip, at the EPA figure of 0.297 kg per vehicle-mile. Alone, that's 111% more than the 138 kg for a passenger on the flight.

With 3 people in the car, driving comes out lower per person than the flight (97 kg each, and 73 kg each for four). A larger SUV or pickup (0.394 kg per mile) would emit about 386 kg per vehicle.

CO2 per person by way of travel, Los Angeles to PortlandBar chart of kilograms of CO2 per person flying, driving or taking the train between Los Angeles and Portland.0100200300Flight, average138 kgCar, driver alone291 kgCar, 2 people145 kgCar, 4 people73 kg
CO2 per person by way of travel, Los Angeles to PortlandBar chart of kilograms of CO2 per person flying, driving or taking the train between Los Angeles and Portland.0100200300Flight, average138 kgCar, driver alone291 kgCar, 2 people145 kgCar, 4 people73 kg
CO2 per person, Los Angeles to Portland. 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

Los Angeles to San Francisco75 kg CO2 per passenger over 337 milesLos Angeles to Las Vegas53 kg CO2 per passenger over 227 milesNew York to Los Angeles406 kg CO2 per passenger over 2,465 milesLos Angeles to Dallas-Fort Worth171 kg CO2 per passenger over 1,222 milesNew York to Atlanta124 kg CO2 per passenger over 758 milesChicago to Philadelphia112 kg CO2 per passenger over 675 milesSan Francisco to Phoenix107 kg CO2 per passenger over 641 miles

Airports on this route: Los Angeles International Airport, John Wayne Airport, Hollywood Burbank Airport, Ontario 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.