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Rankings / Routes / New York to Detroit

2025 flights

New York to Detroit

Between New York and Detroit, 2.0 million passengers flew nonstop in 2025, on 19 thousand flights of about 499 miles and 1.3 hours in the air. The average passenger accounted for about 106 kg of CO2 from the fuel burned, from 77 kg on Spirit Airlines to 158 kg on SkyWest Airlines.

  • 106 kgCO2 per passenger, average
  • 499 milesabout 1.3 hours in the air
  • 2.0 millionpassengers in 2025
  • 81%of seats filled

CO2 per passenger, airline by airline

CO2 per passenger by airline, New York to DetroitBar chart of kilograms of CO2 per passenger on each airline between New York and Detroit in 2025.050100150Spirit Airlines77 kgDelta Air Lines101 kgUnited Airlines108 kgJetBlue118 kgRepublic Airways140 kgEndeavor Air151 kgSkyWest Airlines158 kg
CO2 per passenger by airline, New York to DetroitBar chart of kilograms of CO2 per passenger on each airline between New York and Detroit in 2025.050100150Spirit Airlines77 kgDelta Air Lines101 kgUnited Airlines108 kgJetBlue118 kgRepublic Airways140 kgEndeavor Air151 kgSkyWest Airlines158 kg
Kilograms of CO2 per passenger, one way, 2025. Fuel burned only. Less is better.
New York to Detroit by airline, 2025
AirlineShare of passengersFlights (thousands)Main aircraftSeats per flightSeats filledkg CO2 per passenger
Delta Air Lines53%8.4Airbus A32115184%101
Spirit Airlines21%2.8Airbus A320-200, Airbus A320neo18878%77
Republic Airways12%3.9Embraer 1757483%140
Endeavor Air6%2.17680%151
JetBlue3%0.6Airbus A220-300, Airbus A320-20014772%118
United Airlines2%0.5Airbus A319, Boeing 737 MAX 815664%108
SkyWest Airlines2%0.77376%158

What explains the differences

It's number 69 of the 100 busiest city pairs by passengers, and number 86 for the lowest CO2 per mile flown (0.21 kg per passenger-mile, number 1 being the lowest). A typical route of 499 miles in this set comes out at about 90 kg, so this one is 18% above it.

The flights use more than one pair of airports: DTW to LGA (50%), DTW to EWR (31%), DTW to JFK (16%). The figures here cover all of them.

The airlines on this route differ by 105% per passenger. Spirit Airlines burned 1,158 gallons per flight and 147 passengers on each, and SkyWest Airlines 901 gallons and 56 passengers. The gap comes from how many passengers share each flight, not from fuel burned per flight. Spirit Airlines flew 78% full here against 76% for SkyWest Airlines.

For comparison, the EPA default factor for a flight of this length (0.129 kg per passenger-mile) would give 64 kg. The EPA figure is a national average for flights of that length. The measured figure for this route is 65% higher.

2019 compared with 2025

In 2019 the route carried 2.0 million passengers on 25 thousand flights. In 2025 it carried 2.0 million, up 3%, on 19 thousand flights, down 23%. The average flight had 98 seats then and 129 now, and 79% of them were filled against 81%.

CO2 per passenger was 122 kg in 2019 and 106 kg in 2025, down 12.6%. Fuel burned per flight was up 16.8% (972 gallons to 1,135) and passengers per flight were up 33.6% (78 to 104). The distance flown was about the same (497 miles then, 499 now).

Delta Air Lines led in both years, with 44% of passengers in 2019 and 53% in 2025. Spirit Airlines gained the most share, 11% to 21%. SkyWest Airlines lost the most, 9% to 2%. JetBlue and United Airlines didn't have 1% of the passengers in 2019 and now together carry 6%. GoJet Airlines and Envoy Air no longer reach 1% of passengers, having had 9% in 2019.

Airline by airline, Republic Airways went from 154 kg to 140 kg per passenger (73 seats per flight to 74, main aircraft Embraer 175 in both years); Spirit Airlines went from 68 kg to 77 kg per passenger (182 seats per flight to 188, main aircraft Airbus A320-200 in both years).

New York to Detroit, 2019 and 2025
Measure20192025
Passengers (thousands)1,9512,009
Flights (thousands)25.019.3
Seats filled79%81%
Gallons of fuel per flight9721,135
kg CO2 per passenger122106
CO2 per passenger by airline, 2019 and 2025, New York to DetroitBar chart of kilograms of CO2 per passenger on New York to Detroit for each major airline in 2019 and in 2025.050100150Delta Air Lines 2019107 kgDelta Air Lines 2025101 kgSpirit Airlines 201968 kgSpirit Airlines 202577 kgRepublic Airways 2019154 kgRepublic Airways 2025140 kgEndeavor Air 2019137 kgEndeavor Air 2025151 kg
CO2 per passenger by airline, 2019 and 2025, New York to DetroitBar chart of kilograms of CO2 per passenger on New York to Detroit for each major airline in 2019 and in 2025.050100150Delta Air Lines 2019107 kgDelta Air Lines 2025101 kgSpirit Airlines 201968 kgSpirit Airlines 202577 kgRepublic Airways 2019154 kgRepublic Airways 2025140 kgEndeavor Air 2019137 kgEndeavor Air 2025151 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 Detroit and back: time in the air

Flights from New York to Detroit spent 83 minutes in the air on average in 2025, against 75 minutes from Detroit to New York: 9 minutes longer, 12% 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 863 gallons per flight hour, those extra minutes cost about 125 gallons per flight, which is about 1.2 gallons or 12 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 Detroit83.29,632
Detroit to New York74.59,650

Fly or drive

Driving is about 584 miles by road, which we estimate as 1.17 times the straight-line distance. An average car emits about 173 kg of CO2 on the trip, at the EPA figure of 0.297 kg per vehicle-mile. Alone, that's 63% more than the 106 kg for a passenger on the flight.

With 2 people in the car, driving comes out lower per person than the flight (87 kg each, and 43 kg each for four). A larger SUV or pickup (0.394 kg per mile) would emit about 230 kg per vehicle.

CO2 per person by way of travel, New York to DetroitBar chart of kilograms of CO2 per person flying, driving or taking the train between New York and Detroit.050100150Flight, average106 kgCar, driver alone173 kgCar, 2 people87 kgCar, 4 people43 kg
CO2 per person by way of travel, New York to DetroitBar chart of kilograms of CO2 per person flying, driving or taking the train between New York and Detroit.050100150Flight, average106 kgCar, driver alone173 kgCar, 2 people87 kgCar, 4 people43 kg
CO2 per person, New York to Detroit. 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 milesNew York to Orlando141 kg CO2 per passenger over 947 milesNew York to Chicago125 kg CO2 per passenger over 730 milesNew York to Atlanta124 kg CO2 per passenger over 758 milesChicago to Washington, DC121 kg CO2 per passenger over 609 milesLos Angeles to Phoenix74 kg CO2 per passenger over 354 milesNew York to Charlotte117 kg CO2 per passenger over 541 milesLos Angeles to San Francisco75 kg CO2 per passenger over 337 miles

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.