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Rankings / Routes / Miami to Charlotte

2025 flights

Miami to Charlotte

Between Miami and Charlotte, 2.1 million passengers flew nonstop in 2025, on 14 thousand flights of about 642 miles and 1.6 hours in the air. The average passenger accounted for about 109 kg of CO2 from the fuel burned, from 87 kg on Spirit Airlines to 114 kg on American Airlines.

  • 109 kgCO2 per passenger, average
  • 642 milesabout 1.6 hours in the air
  • 2.1 millionpassengers in 2025
  • 79%of seats filled

CO2 per passenger, airline by airline

CO2 per passenger by airline, Miami to CharlotteBar chart of kilograms of CO2 per passenger on each airline between Miami and Charlotte in 2025.0255075100Spirit Airlines87 kgFrontier Airlines100 kgAmerican Airlines114 kg
CO2 per passenger by airline, Miami to CharlotteBar chart of kilograms of CO2 per passenger on each airline between Miami and Charlotte in 2025.050100Spirit Airlines87 kgFrontier Airlines100 kgAmerican Airlines114 kg
Kilograms of CO2 per passenger, one way, 2025. Fuel burned only. Less is better.
Miami to Charlotte by airline, 2025
AirlineShare of passengersFlights (thousands)Main aircraftSeats per flightSeats filledkg CO2 per passenger
American Airlines81%11.5Airbus A321, Boeing 737-80018779%114
Spirit Airlines16%2.2Airbus A320-200, Airbus A321neo20079%87
Frontier Airlines3%0.4Airbus A320neo, Airbus A321neo21465%100

What explains the differences

It's number 63 of the 100 busiest city pairs by passengers, and number 70 for the lowest CO2 per mile flown (0.17 kg per passenger-mile, number 1 being the lowest). A typical route of 642 miles in this set comes out at about 107 kg, so this one is close to that.

The flights use more than one pair of airports: CLT to MIA (54%), CLT to FLL (46%). The figures here cover all of them.

The airlines on this route differ by 31% per passenger. Spirit Airlines burned 1,405 gallons per flight and 158 passengers on each, and American Airlines 1,735 gallons and 148 passengers. Fuel burned per flight explains about 77% of the gap and the number of passengers on each flight the other 23%. Spirit Airlines flew 79% full here against 79% for American Airlines, flying mostly Airbus A320-200 against Airbus A321.

For comparison, the EPA default factor for a flight of this length (0.129 kg per passenger-mile) would give 83 kg. The EPA figure is a national average for flights of that length. The measured figure for this route is 32% higher.

2019 compared with 2025

In 2019 the route carried 1.6 million passengers on 11 thousand flights. In 2025 it carried 2.1 million, up 32%, on 14 thousand flights, up 32%. The average flight had 172 seats then and 190 now, and 87% of them were filled against 79%.

CO2 per passenger was 107 kg in 2019 and 109 kg in 2025, up 2.3%. Fuel burned per flight was up 1.8% (1,646 gallons to 1,675) and passengers per flight were down 0.5% (150 to 150). The distance flown was about the same (641 miles then, 642 now).

American Airlines led in both years, with 97% of passengers in 2019 and 81% in 2025. Spirit Airlines gained the most share, 3% to 16%. American Airlines lost the most, 97% to 81%. Frontier Airlines didn't have 1% of the passengers in 2019 and now carries 3%.

American Airlines went from 107 kg to 114 kg per passenger (172 seats per flight to 187, main aircraft Airbus A321 in both years).

The airports changed too: CLT to MIA handled 50% of the passengers in 2019 and 54% in 2025.

Miami to Charlotte, 2019 and 2025
Measure20192025
Passengers (thousands)1,5932,095
Flights (thousands)10.614.0
Seats filled87%79%
Gallons of fuel per flight1,6461,675
kg CO2 per passenger107109
CO2 per passenger by airline, 2019 and 2025, Miami to CharlotteBar chart of kilograms of CO2 per passenger on Miami to Charlotte for each major airline in 2019 and in 2025.0255075100American Airlines 2019107 kgAmerican Airlines 2025114 kgSpirit Airlines 201990 kgSpirit Airlines 202587 kg
CO2 per passenger by airline, 2019 and 2025, Miami to CharlotteBar chart of kilograms of CO2 per passenger on Miami to Charlotte for each major airline in 2019 and in 2025.050100American Airlines 2019107 kgAmerican Airlines 2025114 kgSpirit Airlines 201990 kgSpirit Airlines 202587 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.

Miami to Charlotte and back: time in the air

The time in the air is almost the same each way: 96 minutes on average from Miami to Charlotte and 94 minutes back. A difference of 2 minutes is within what routing and congestion alone produce.

Time in the air by direction, 2025
DirectionAverage minutes in the airFlights
Miami to Charlotte95.67,039
Charlotte to Miami93.66,975

Fly or drive

Driving is about 751 miles by road, which we estimate as 1.17 times the straight-line distance. An average car emits about 223 kg of CO2 on the trip, at the EPA figure of 0.297 kg per vehicle-mile. Alone, that's 104% more than the 109 kg for a passenger on the flight.

With 3 people in the car, driving comes out lower per person than the flight (74 kg each, and 56 kg each for four). A larger SUV or pickup (0.394 kg per mile) would emit about 296 kg per vehicle.

CO2 per person by way of travel, Miami to CharlotteBar chart of kilograms of CO2 per person flying, driving or taking the train between Miami and Charlotte.050100150200Flight, average109 kgCar, driver alone223 kgCar, 2 people112 kgCar, 4 people56 kg
CO2 per person by way of travel, Miami to CharlotteBar chart of kilograms of CO2 per person flying, driving or taking the train between Miami and Charlotte.0100200Flight, average109 kgCar, driver alone223 kgCar, 2 people112 kgCar, 4 people56 kg
CO2 per person, Miami to Charlotte. 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

New York to Miami158 kg CO2 per passenger over 1,082 milesAtlanta to Miami96 kg CO2 per passenger over 587 milesMiami to Washington, DC144 kg CO2 per passenger over 921 milesNew York to Charlotte117 kg CO2 per passenger over 541 milesSan Francisco to Phoenix107 kg CO2 per passenger over 641 milesAtlanta to Houston116 kg CO2 per passenger over 692 milesNew York to Chicago125 kg CO2 per passenger over 730 milesDallas-Fort Worth to Atlanta127 kg CO2 per passenger over 728 miles

Airports on this route: Miami International Airport, Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood.

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.