New York to Charlotte

Between New York and Charlotte, 2.9 million passengers flew nonstop in 2025, on 28 thousand flights of about 541 miles and 1.4 hours in the air. The average passenger accounted for about 117 kg of CO2 from the fuel burned, from 79 kg on Spirit Airlines to 224 kg on PSA Airlines.

117 kgCO2 per passenger, average
541 milesabout 1.4 hours in the air
2.9 millionpassengers in 2025
78%of seats filled

CO2 per passenger, airline by airline

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

New York to Charlotte by airline, 2025

Airline	Share of passengers	Flights (thousands)	Main aircraft	Seats per flight	Seats filled	kg CO2 per passenger
American Airlines	60%	13.2	Boeing 737-800, Airbus A319	163	80%	103
Spirit Airlines	9%	1.7	Airbus A320-200, Airbus A321neo	190	80%	79
Endeavor Air	8%	4.3		75	71%	178
United Airlines	7%	2.0	Airbus A319, Boeing 737-900ER	146	70%	118
Republic Airways	7%	3.3	Embraer 175	75	78%	158
PSA Airlines	5%	2.5		66	81%	224
Frontier Airlines	3%	0.6	Airbus A320neo, Airbus A321neo	211	73%	80

What explains the differences

It's number 26 of the 100 busiest city pairs by passengers, and number 87 for the lowest CO2 per mile flown (0.22 kg per passenger-mile, number 1 being the lowest). A typical route of 541 miles in this set comes out at about 95 kg, so this one is 23% above it.

The flights use more than one pair of airports: CLT to LGA (43%), CLT to EWR (31%), CLT to JFK (21%). The figures here cover all of them.

The airlines on this route differ by 183% per passenger. Spirit Airlines burned 1,228 gallons per flight and 151 passengers on each, and PSA Airlines 1,230 gallons and 54 passengers. Fuel burned per flight explains about 0% of the gap and the number of passengers on each flight the other 100%. Spirit Airlines flew 80% full here against 81% for PSA Airlines.

For comparison, the EPA default factor for a flight of this length (0.129 kg per passenger-mile) would give 70 kg. The EPA figure is a national average for flights of that length. The measured figure for this route is 67% higher.

2019 compared with 2025

In 2019 the route carried 3.3 million passengers on 31 thousand flights. In 2025 it carried 2.9 million, down 13%, on 28 thousand flights, down 12%. The average flight had 126 seats then and 131 now, and 83% of them were filled against 78%.

CO2 per passenger was 114 kg in 2019 and 117 kg in 2025, up 2.6%. Fuel burned per flight was up 0.9% (1,217 gallons to 1,228) and passengers per flight were down 1.6% (104 to 103). The distance flown was about the same (540 miles then, 541 now).

American Airlines led in both years, with 69% of passengers in 2019 and 60% in 2025. Spirit Airlines gained the most share, 2% to 9%. American Airlines lost the most, 69% to 60%. Frontier Airlines didn't have 1% of the passengers in 2019 and now carries 3%. Delta Air Lines and JetBlue and SkyWest Airlines no longer reach 1% of passengers, having had 8% in 2019.

Airline by airline, Republic Airways went from 161 kg to 158 kg per passenger (73 seats per flight to 75, main aircraft Embraer 175 in both years); PSA Airlines went from 170 kg to 224 kg per passenger (62 seats per flight to 66, main aircraft unlisted aircraft in both years).

The airports changed too: CLT to LGA handled 36% of the passengers in 2019 and 43% in 2025.

New York to Charlotte, 2019 and 2025

Measure	2019	2025
Passengers (thousands)	3,277	2,850
Flights (thousands)	31.4	27.8
Seats filled	83%	78%
Gallons of fuel per flight	1,217	1,228
kg CO2 per passenger	114	117

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 Charlotte and back: time in the air

Flights from New York to Charlotte spent 88 minutes in the air on average in 2025, against 81 minutes from Charlotte to New York: 7 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 874 gallons per flight hour, those extra minutes cost about 96 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

Direction	Average minutes in the air	Flights
New York to Charlotte	87.6	13,904
Charlotte to New York	81.0	13,880

Fly or drive

Driving is about 633 miles by road, which we estimate as 1.17 times the straight-line distance. An average car emits about 188 kg of CO2 on the trip, at the EPA figure of 0.297 kg per vehicle-mile. Alone, that's 61% more than the 117 kg for a passenger on the flight.

With 2 people in the car, driving comes out lower per person than the flight (94 kg each, and 47 kg each for four). A larger SUV or pickup (0.394 kg per mile) would emit about 249 kg per vehicle.

CO2 per person, New York 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

Airports on this route: 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.