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Rankings / Routes / New York to Atlanta

2025 flights

New York to Atlanta

Between New York and Atlanta, 5.5 million passengers flew nonstop in 2025, on 39 thousand flights of about 758 miles and 1.8 hours in the air. The average passenger accounted for about 124 kg of CO2 from the fuel burned, from 89 kg on Frontier Airlines to 205 kg on Endeavor Air.

Delta carries 61% of the passengers between New York and Atlanta, down from 67% in 2019, and the airline that gained most is Frontier, from 3% to 12%. It changes the carbon figure: Frontier's 89 kg per passenger is 30% below Delta's 127 kg.

The two airlines show how much of this is seats. Frontier's flights burn 20% less fuel (1,565 gallons against 1,961) and carry 14% more people (171 against 150).

  • 124 kgCO2 per passenger, average
  • 758 milesabout 1.8 hours in the air
  • 5.5 millionpassengers in 2025
  • 83%of seats filled

CO2 per passenger, airline by airline

CO2 per passenger by airline, New York to AtlantaBar chart of kilograms of CO2 per passenger on each airline between New York and Atlanta in 2025.050100150200Frontier Airlines89 kgSpirit Airlines90 kgSouthwest Airlines112 kgDelta Air Lines127 kgUnited Airlines134 kgJetBlue134 kgRepublic Airways196 kgEndeavor Air205 kg
CO2 per passenger by airline, New York to AtlantaBar chart of kilograms of CO2 per passenger on each airline between New York and Atlanta in 2025.0100200Frontier Airlines89 kgSpirit Airlines90 kgSouthwest Airlines112 kgDelta Air Lines127 kgUnited Airlines134 kgJetBlue134 kgRepublic Airways196 kgEndeavor Air205 kg
Kilograms of CO2 per passenger, one way, 2025. Fuel burned only. Less is better.
New York to Atlanta by airline, 2025
AirlineShare of passengersFlights (thousands)Main aircraftSeats per flightSeats filledkg CO2 per passenger
Delta Air Lines61%22.0Airbus A321, Boeing 737-900ER18083%127
Frontier Airlines12%3.8Airbus A320neo, Airbus A321neo21281%89
United Airlines8%3.6Airbus A319, Boeing 737-900ER15079%134
Southwest Airlines7%2.7Boeing 737 MAX 8, Boeing 737-80016581%112
JetBlue5%2.3Airbus A220-300, Airbus A320-20014985%134
Spirit Airlines4%1.2Airbus A320neo, Airbus A32119887%90
Endeavor Air2%2.17683%205
Republic Airways2%1.4Embraer 1757483%196

What explains the differences

It's number 5 of the 100 busiest city pairs by passengers, and number 64 for the lowest CO2 per mile flown (0.16 kg per passenger-mile, number 1 being the lowest). A typical route of 758 miles in this set comes out at about 122 kg, so this one is close to that.

The flights use more than one pair of airports: ATL to LGA (41%), ATL to EWR (31%), ATL to JFK (23%). The figures here cover all of them.

The airlines on this route differ by 130% per passenger. Frontier Airlines burned 1,565 gallons per flight and 171 passengers on each, and Endeavor Air 1,318 gallons and 63 passengers. The gap comes from how many passengers share each flight, not from fuel burned per flight. Frontier Airlines flew 81% full here against 83% for Endeavor Air.

For comparison, the EPA default factor for a flight of this length (0.129 kg per passenger-mile) would give 98 kg. The EPA figure is a national average for flights of that length. The measured figure for this route is 27% higher.

2019 compared with 2025

In 2019 the route carried 5.3 million passengers on 43 thousand flights. In 2025 it carried 5.5 million, up 3%, on 39 thousand flights, down 9%. The average flight had 146 seats then and 169 now, and 84% of them were filled against 83%.

CO2 per passenger was 136 kg in 2019 and 124 kg in 2025, down 8.7%. Fuel burned per flight was up 3.5% (1,715 gallons to 1,776) and passengers per flight were up 13.4% (123 to 139). The distance flown was about the same (759 miles then, 758 now).

Delta Air Lines led in both years, with 67% of passengers in 2019 and 61% in 2025. Frontier Airlines gained the most share, 3% to 12%. Delta Air Lines lost the most, 67% to 61%. American Airlines no longer reaches 1% of passengers, having had 3% in 2019.

Airline by airline, Southwest Airlines went from 129 kg to 112 kg per passenger (145 seats per flight to 165, main aircraft Boeing 737-700 then and Boeing 737 MAX 8 now); Endeavor Air went from 185 kg to 205 kg per passenger (76 seats per flight to 76, main aircraft unlisted aircraft in both years).

The airports changed too: ATL to LGA handled 45% of the passengers in 2019 and 41% in 2025.

New York to Atlanta, 2019 and 2025
Measure20192025
Passengers (thousands)5,3215,467
Flights (thousands)43.339.2
Seats filled84%83%
Gallons of fuel per flight1,7151,776
kg CO2 per passenger136124
CO2 per passenger by airline, 2019 and 2025, New York to AtlantaBar chart of kilograms of CO2 per passenger on New York to Atlanta for each major airline in 2019 and in 2025.050100Delta Air Lines 2019132 kgDelta Air Lines 2025127 kgFrontier Airlines 201994 kgFrontier Airlines 202589 kgUnited Airlines 2019131 kgUnited Airlines 2025134 kgSouthwest Airlines 2019129 kgSouthwest Airlines 2025112 kg
CO2 per passenger by airline, 2019 and 2025, New York to AtlantaBar chart of kilograms of CO2 per passenger on New York to Atlanta for each major airline in 2019 and in 2025.050100Delta Air Lines 2019132 kgDelta Air Lines 2025127 kgFrontier Airlines 201994 kgFrontier Airlines 202589 kgUnited Airlines 2019131 kgUnited Airlines 2025134 kgSouthwest Airlines 2019129 kgSouthwest Airlines 2025112 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.

New York to Atlanta and back: time in the air

Flights from New York to Atlanta spent 113 minutes in the air on average in 2025, against 105 minutes from Atlanta to New York: 8 minutes longer, 8% 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 980 gallons per flight hour, those extra minutes cost about 129 gallons per flight, which is about 0.9 gallons or 9 kg of CO2 for each passenger on the slower direction. The route figure above averages both directions.

Time in the air by direction, 2025
DirectionAverage minutes in the airFlights
New York to Atlanta112.619,630
Atlanta to New York104.719,599

Fly or drive

Driving is about 887 miles by road, which we estimate as 1.17 times the straight-line distance. An average car emits about 263 kg of CO2 on the trip, at the EPA figure of 0.297 kg per vehicle-mile. Alone, that's 112% more than the 124 kg for a passenger on the flight.

With 3 people in the car, driving comes out lower per person than the flight (88 kg each, and 66 kg each for four). A larger SUV or pickup (0.394 kg per mile) would emit about 349 kg per vehicle.

CO2 per person by way of travel, New York to AtlantaBar chart of kilograms of CO2 per person flying, driving or taking the train between New York and Atlanta.0100200Flight, average124 kgCar, driver alone263 kgCar, 2 people132 kgCar, 4 people66 kg
CO2 per person by way of travel, New York to AtlantaBar chart of kilograms of CO2 per person flying, driving or taking the train between New York and Atlanta.0100200Flight, average124 kgCar, driver alone263 kgCar, 2 people132 kgCar, 4 people66 kg
CO2 per person, New York to Atlanta. 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.

What to take from it

Spirit's 90 kg and Southwest's 112 kg are also below Delta, so if you're booking the lowest-carbon seat you'd pick any of the three before the airline that carries 61% of everyone. The regional flights are the high end: Endeavor at 205 kg and Republic at 196 kg.

The whole route has improved, from 136 kg to 124 kg a passenger, while passengers edged up from 5.3 to 5.5 million. Four people in a car would produce 66 kg each over the 887 road miles, 47% below the flight.

Routes with shared cities or nearby CO2 per mile

New York to Miami158 kg CO2 per passenger over 1,082 milesNew York to Orlando141 kg CO2 per passenger over 947 milesNew York to Chicago125 kg CO2 per passenger over 730 milesNew York to Los Angeles406 kg CO2 per passenger over 2,465 milesChicago to Boston140 kg CO2 per passenger over 861 milesAtlanta to Miami96 kg CO2 per passenger over 587 milesLos Angeles to Portland138 kg CO2 per passenger over 837 miles

Airports on this route: Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, LaGuardia Airport, Newark Liberty International Airport, John F. Kennedy 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.