Green Airlines

Rankings / Routes / New York to Houston

2025 flights

New York to Houston

Between New York and Houston, 2.7 million passengers flew nonstop in 2025, on 19 thousand flights of about 1,412 miles and 3.1 hours in the air. The average passenger accounted for about 197 kg of CO2 from the fuel burned, from 160 kg on Spirit Airlines to 253 kg on JetBlue.

  • 197 kgCO2 per passenger, average
  • 1,412 milesabout 3.1 hours in the air
  • 2.7 millionpassengers in 2025
  • 85%of seats filled

CO2 per passenger, airline by airline

CO2 per passenger by airline, New York to HoustonBar chart of kilograms of CO2 per passenger on each airline between New York and Houston in 2025.0100200Spirit Airlines160 kgSouthwest Airlines186 kgUnited Airlines200 kgDelta Air Lines214 kgJetBlue253 kg
CO2 per passenger by airline, New York to HoustonBar chart of kilograms of CO2 per passenger on each airline between New York and Houston in 2025.0100200Spirit Airlines160 kgSouthwest Airlines186 kgUnited Airlines200 kgDelta Air Lines214 kgJetBlue253 kg
Kilograms of CO2 per passenger, one way, 2025. Fuel burned only. Less is better.
New York to Houston by airline, 2025
AirlineShare of passengersFlights (thousands)Main aircraftSeats per flightSeats filledkg CO2 per passenger
United Airlines64%11.7Boeing 737-900ER, Boeing 737-80017086%200
Southwest Airlines14%2.7Boeing 737 MAX 8, Boeing 737-80017282%186
Delta Air Lines11%2.8Airbus A220-30012185%214
Spirit Airlines9%1.4Airbus A321, Airbus A321neo20586%160
JetBlue1%0.3Airbus A220-300, Airbus A320-20014184%253

What explains the differences

It's number 35 of the 100 busiest city pairs by passengers, and number 30 for the lowest CO2 per mile flown (0.14 kg per passenger-mile, number 1 being the lowest). A typical route of 1,412 miles in this set comes out at about 202 kg, so this one is close to that.

The flights use more than one pair of airports: IAH to EWR (43%), IAH to LGA (41%), HOU to LGA (14%). The figures here cover all of them.

The airlines on this route differ by 58% per passenger. Spirit Airlines burned 2,891 gallons per flight and 176 passengers on each, and JetBlue 3,080 gallons and 119 passengers. Fuel burned per flight explains about 14% of the gap and the number of passengers on each flight the other 86%. Spirit Airlines flew 86% full here against 84% for JetBlue, flying mostly Airbus A321 against Airbus A220-300.

For comparison, the EPA default factor for a flight of this length (0.129 kg per passenger-mile) would give 182 kg. The EPA figure is a national average for flights of that length. The measured figure for this route is 8.2% higher.

2019 compared with 2025

In 2019 the route carried 2.3 million passengers on 19 thousand flights. In 2025 it carried 2.7 million, up 14%, on 19 thousand flights, up 3%. The average flight had 148 seats then and 164 now, and 85% of them were filled against 85%.

CO2 per passenger was 231 kg in 2019 and 197 kg in 2025, down 14.6%. Fuel burned per flight was down 5.4% (2,987 gallons to 2,824) and passengers per flight were up 10.8% (126 to 140). The distance flown was about the same (1,411 miles then, 1,412 now).

United Airlines led in both years, with 66% of passengers in 2019 and 64% in 2025. Spirit Airlines gained the most share, 6% to 9%. Mesa Airlines no longer reaches 1% of passengers, having had 3% in 2019.

Airline by airline, Southwest Airlines went from 218 kg to 186 kg per passenger (145 seats per flight to 172, main aircraft Boeing 737-700 then and Boeing 737 MAX 8 now); Delta Air Lines went from 240 kg to 214 kg per passenger (110 seats per flight to 121, main aircraft Boeing 737-800 then and Airbus A220-300 now).

The airports changed too: IAH to EWR handled 50% of the passengers in 2019 and 43% in 2025.

New York to Houston, 2019 and 2025
Measure20192025
Passengers (thousands)2,3442,675
Flights (thousands)18.619.2
Seats filled85%85%
Gallons of fuel per flight2,9872,824
kg CO2 per passenger231197
CO2 per passenger by airline, 2019 and 2025, New York to HoustonBar chart of kilograms of CO2 per passenger on New York to Houston for each major airline in 2019 and in 2025.0100200United Airlines 2019228 kgUnited Airlines 2025200 kgSouthwest Airlines 2019218 kgSouthwest Airlines 2025186 kgDelta Air Lines 2019240 kgDelta Air Lines 2025214 kgSpirit Airlines 2019184 kgSpirit Airlines 2025160 kg
CO2 per passenger by airline, 2019 and 2025, New York to HoustonBar chart of kilograms of CO2 per passenger on New York to Houston for each major airline in 2019 and in 2025.0100200United Airlines 2019228 kgUnited Airlines 2025200 kgSouthwest Airlines 2019218 kgSouthwest Airlines 2025186 kgDelta Air Lines 2019240 kgDelta Air Lines 2025214 kgSpirit Airlines 2019184 kgSpirit Airlines 2025160 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 Houston and back: time in the air

Flights from New York to Houston spent 200 minutes in the air on average in 2025, against 177 minutes from Houston to New York: 23 minutes longer, 13% 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 898 gallons per flight hour, those extra minutes cost about 343 gallons per flight, which is about 2.5 gallons or 24 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 Houston200.19,590
Houston to New York177.29,563

Fly or drive

Driving is about 1,652 miles by road, which we estimate as 1.17 times the straight-line distance. An average car emits about 491 kg of CO2 on the trip, at the EPA figure of 0.297 kg per vehicle-mile. Alone, that's 149% more than the 197 kg for a passenger on the flight.

With 3 people in the car, driving comes out lower per person than the flight (164 kg each, and 123 kg each for four). A larger SUV or pickup (0.394 kg per mile) would emit about 651 kg per vehicle.

CO2 per person by way of travel, New York to HoustonBar chart of kilograms of CO2 per person flying, driving or taking the train between New York and Houston.0200400Flight, average197 kgCar, driver alone491 kgCar, 2 people245 kgCar, 4 people123 kg
CO2 per person by way of travel, New York to HoustonBar chart of kilograms of CO2 per person flying, driving or taking the train between New York and Houston.0200400Flight, average197 kgCar, driver alone491 kgCar, 2 people245 kgCar, 4 people123 kg
CO2 per person, New York to Houston. 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 milesDallas-Fort Worth to Las Vegas148 kg CO2 per passenger over 1,059 milesLos Angeles to Dallas-Fort Worth171 kg CO2 per passenger over 1,222 milesSeattle to Anchorage203 kg CO2 per passenger over 1,448 milesDallas-Fort Worth to Orlando138 kg CO2 per passenger over 981 miles

Airports on this route: George Bush Intercontinental Airport, Newark Liberty International Airport, LaGuardia Airport, William P. Hobby 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.