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Rankings / Routes / New York to Miami

2025 flights

New York to Miami

Between New York and Miami, 8.7 million passengers flew nonstop in 2025, on 58 thousand flights of about 1,082 miles and 2.5 hours in the air. The average passenger accounted for about 158 kg of CO2 from the fuel burned, from 125 kg on Frontier Airlines to 170 kg on JetBlue.

Six airlines fly New York to Miami in volume, and they sit closer together than on most long routes: from 125 kg per passenger on Frontier to 170 kg on JetBlue, a gap of 36%. That's tight for a route of more than 1,000 miles.

The route also got cleaner while it grew. Passengers rose 6% from 8.2 to 8.7 million between 2019 and 2025, and CO2 per passenger fell from 165 kg to 158 kg. American went from 177 kg to 162 kg and United from 158 kg to 151 kg.

  • 158 kgCO2 per passenger, average
  • 1,082 milesabout 2.5 hours in the air
  • 8.7 millionpassengers in 2025
  • 84%of seats filled

CO2 per passenger, airline by airline

CO2 per passenger by airline, New York to MiamiBar chart of kilograms of CO2 per passenger on each airline between New York and Miami in 2025.050100150Frontier Airlines125 kgSpirit Airlines128 kgUnited Airlines151 kgAmerican Airlines162 kgDelta Air Lines165 kgJetBlue170 kg
CO2 per passenger by airline, New York to MiamiBar chart of kilograms of CO2 per passenger on each airline between New York and Miami in 2025.050100150Frontier Airlines125 kgSpirit Airlines128 kgUnited Airlines151 kgAmerican Airlines162 kgDelta Air Lines165 kgJetBlue170 kg
Kilograms of CO2 per passenger, one way, 2025. Fuel burned only. Less is better.
New York to Miami by airline, 2025
AirlineShare of passengersFlights (thousands)Main aircraftSeats per flightSeats filledkg CO2 per passenger
American Airlines26%14.9Boeing 737-800, Boeing 737 MAX 817685%162
Delta Air Lines23%13.0Airbus A321, Boeing 737-900ER18485%165
JetBlue20%12.5Airbus A320-200, Airbus A32116582%170
United Airlines16%9.4Boeing 737-900ER, Boeing 737 MAX 817484%151
Spirit Airlines13%6.4Airbus A320-200, Airbus A320neo19586%128
Frontier Airlines2%1.0Airbus A321neo, Airbus A320neo21581%125

What explains the differences

It's number 2 of the 100 busiest city pairs by passengers, and number 39 for the lowest CO2 per mile flown (0.15 kg per passenger-mile, number 1 being the lowest). A typical route of 1,082 miles in this set comes out at about 162 kg, so this one is close to that.

The flights use more than one pair of airports: LGA to MIA (21%), JFK to MIA (17%), EWR to FLL (16%). The figures here cover all of them.

The airlines on this route differ by 36% per passenger. Frontier Airlines burned 2,224 gallons per flight and 173 passengers on each, and JetBlue 2,367 gallons and 136 passengers. Fuel burned per flight explains about 20% of the gap and the number of passengers on each flight the other 80%. Frontier Airlines flew 81% full here against 82% 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 140 kg. The EPA figure is a national average for flights of that length. The measured figure for this route is 13% higher.

2019 compared with 2025

In 2019 the route carried 8.2 million passengers on 55 thousand flights. In 2025 it carried 8.7 million, up 6%, on 58 thousand flights, up 7%. The average flight had 172 seats then and 177 now, and 87% of them were filled against 84%.

CO2 per passenger was 165 kg in 2019 and 158 kg in 2025, down 4.2%. Fuel burned per flight was down 4.8% (2,534 gallons to 2,414) and passengers per flight were down 0.6% (149 to 149). The distance flown was about the same (1,081 miles then, 1,082 now).

American Airlines led in both years, with 25% of passengers in 2019 and 26% in 2025. Southwest Airlines no longer reaches 1% of passengers, having had 1% in 2019.

Airline by airline, American Airlines went from 177 kg to 162 kg per passenger (178 seats per flight to 176, main aircraft Boeing 737-800 in both years); JetBlue went from 166 kg to 170 kg per passenger (158 seats per flight to 165, main aircraft Airbus A320-200 in both years).

New York to Miami, 2019 and 2025
Measure20192025
Passengers (thousands)8,1608,653
Flights (thousands)54.658.2
Seats filled87%84%
Gallons of fuel per flight2,5342,414
kg CO2 per passenger165158
CO2 per passenger by airline, 2019 and 2025, New York to MiamiBar chart of kilograms of CO2 per passenger on New York to Miami for each major airline in 2019 and in 2025.050100150American Airlines 2019177 kgAmerican Airlines 2025162 kgDelta Air Lines 2019171 kgDelta Air Lines 2025165 kgJetBlue 2019166 kgJetBlue 2025170 kgUnited Airlines 2019158 kgUnited Airlines 2025151 kg
CO2 per passenger by airline, 2019 and 2025, New York to MiamiBar chart of kilograms of CO2 per passenger on New York to Miami for each major airline in 2019 and in 2025.050100150American Airlines 2019177 kgAmerican Airlines 2025162 kgDelta Air Lines 2019171 kgDelta Air Lines 2025165 kgJetBlue 2019166 kgJetBlue 2025170 kgUnited Airlines 2019158 kgUnited Airlines 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 Miami and back: time in the air

Flights from New York to Miami spent 154 minutes in the air on average in 2025, against 146 minutes from Miami to New York: 8 minutes longer, 5% 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 964 gallons per flight hour, those extra minutes cost about 125 gallons per flight, which is about 0.8 gallons or 8 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 Miami154.129,121
Miami to New York146.329,123

Fly or drive

Driving is about 1,266 miles by road, which we estimate as 1.17 times the straight-line distance. An average car emits about 376 kg of CO2 on the trip, at the EPA figure of 0.297 kg per vehicle-mile. Alone, that's 137% more than the 158 kg for a passenger on the flight.

With 3 people in the car, driving comes out lower per person than the flight (125 kg each, and 94 kg each for four). A larger SUV or pickup (0.394 kg per mile) would emit about 499 kg per vehicle.

CO2 per person by way of travel, New York to MiamiBar chart of kilograms of CO2 per person flying, driving or taking the train between New York and Miami.0100200300Flight, average158 kgCar, driver alone376 kgCar, 2 people188 kgCar, 4 people94 kg
CO2 per person by way of travel, New York to MiamiBar chart of kilograms of CO2 per person flying, driving or taking the train between New York and Miami.0100200300Flight, average158 kgCar, driver alone376 kgCar, 2 people188 kgCar, 4 people94 kg
CO2 per person, New York to Miami. 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

'Miami' covers two airports, and 44% of the passengers use Fort Lauderdale. If you're comparing airlines, compare the pair of airports you'd really use: Spirit at 128 kg sits 21% below American's 162 kg, and Frontier at 125 kg sits 26% below JetBlue's 170 kg.

Flying south is 8 minutes slower than flying back, 5% longer, which costs about 8 kg more per passenger. Driving is 1,266 miles: alone it's 376 kg, and even with four in the car, 94 kg each, it only comes out 41% below the flight.

Routes with shared cities or nearby CO2 per mile

New 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 milesNew York to Los Angeles406 kg CO2 per passenger over 2,465 milesDenver to Las Vegas91 kg CO2 per passenger over 628 milesDallas-Fort Worth to Phoenix127 kg CO2 per passenger over 872 milesNew York to Dallas-Fort Worth203 kg CO2 per passenger over 1,384 milesMiami to Houston142 kg CO2 per passenger over 964 miles

Airports on this route: LaGuardia Airport, Miami International Airport, John F. Kennedy International Airport, Newark Liberty 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.