Miami to Philadelphia

Between Miami and Philadelphia, 1.8 million passengers flew nonstop in 2025, on 12 thousand flights of about 1,003 miles and 2.3 hours in the air. The average passenger accounted for about 152 kg of CO2 from the fuel burned, from 117 kg on Frontier Airlines to 183 kg on JetBlue.

152 kgCO2 per passenger, average
1,003 milesabout 2.3 hours in the air
1.8 millionpassengers in 2025
80%of seats filled

CO2 per passenger, airline by airline

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

Miami to Philadelphia by airline, 2025

Airline	Share of passengers	Flights (thousands)	Main aircraft	Seats per flight	Seats filled	kg CO2 per passenger
American Airlines	61%	7.5	Airbus A321, Boeing 737-800	186	80%	168
Spirit Airlines	19%	2.1	Airbus A320neo, Airbus A320-200	199	84%	120
Frontier Airlines	15%	1.6	Airbus A321neo, Airbus A320neo	223	78%	117
JetBlue	4%	0.7	Airbus A320-200, Airbus A220-300	162	72%	183

What explains the differences

It's number 82 of the 100 busiest city pairs by passengers, and number 49 for the lowest CO2 per mile flown (0.15 kg per passenger-mile, number 1 being the lowest). A typical route of 1,003 miles in this set comes out at about 152 kg, so this one is close to that.

The flights use more than one pair of airports: MIA to PHL (54%), FLL to PHL (47%). The figures here cover all of them.

The airlines on this route differ by 56% per passenger. Frontier Airlines burned 2,090 gallons per flight and 174 passengers on each, and JetBlue 2,198 gallons and 117 passengers. Fuel burned per flight explains about 11% of the gap and the number of passengers on each flight the other 89%. Frontier Airlines flew 78% full here against 72% for JetBlue, flying mostly Airbus A321neo against Airbus A320-200.

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 17% higher.

2019 compared with 2025

In 2019 the route carried 1.7 million passengers on 11 thousand flights. In 2025 it carried 1.8 million, up 6%, on 12 thousand flights, up 8%. The average flight had 175 seats then and 192 now, and 89% of them were filled against 80%.

CO2 per passenger was 163 kg in 2019 and 152 kg in 2025, down 7.0%. Fuel burned per flight was down 8.7% (2,615 gallons to 2,388) and passengers per flight were down 1.8% (156 to 153). The distance flown was about the same (1,002 miles then, 1,003 now).

American Airlines led in both years, with 67% of passengers in 2019 and 61% in 2025. Frontier Airlines gained the most share, 6% to 15%. American Airlines lost the most, 67% to 61%. Southwest Airlines no longer reaches 1% of passengers, having had 5% in 2019.

Airline by airline, American Airlines went from 177 kg to 168 kg per passenger (177 seats per flight to 186, main aircraft Boeing 767-300ER then and Airbus A321 now); Spirit Airlines went from 126 kg to 120 kg per passenger (187 seats per flight to 199, main aircraft Airbus A320-200 then and Airbus A320neo now).

Miami to Philadelphia, 2019 and 2025

Measure	2019	2025
Passengers (thousands)	1,707	1,813
Flights (thousands)	10.9	11.8
Seats filled	89%	80%
Gallons of fuel per flight	2,615	2,388
kg CO2 per passenger	163	152

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 Philadelphia and back: time in the air

The time in the air is almost the same each way: 136 minutes on average from Miami to Philadelphia and 141 minutes back. A difference of 5 minutes is within what routing and congestion alone produce.

Time in the air by direction, 2025

Direction	Average minutes in the air	Flights
Philadelphia to Miami	140.8	5,892
Miami to Philadelphia	136.2	5,922

Fly or drive

Driving is about 1,174 miles by road, which we estimate as 1.17 times the straight-line distance. An average car emits about 349 kg of CO2 on the trip, at the EPA figure of 0.297 kg per vehicle-mile. Alone, that's 130% more than the 152 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 462 kg per vehicle.

CO2 per person, Miami to Philadelphia. 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: 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.