New York to Nashville

Between New York and Nashville, 1.6 million passengers flew nonstop in 2025, on 17 thousand flights of about 761 miles and 1.9 hours in the air. The average passenger accounted for about 150 kg of CO2 from the fuel burned, from 104 kg on Spirit Airlines to 200 kg on Endeavor Air.

150 kgCO2 per passenger, average
761 milesabout 1.9 hours in the air
1.6 millionpassengers in 2025
84%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 Nashville by airline, 2025

Airline	Share of passengers	Flights (thousands)	Main aircraft	Seats per flight	Seats filled	kg CO2 per passenger
Southwest Airlines	24%	2.8	Boeing 737-700, Boeing 737-800	164	84%	113
Republic Airways	23%	5.8	Embraer 175	76	85%	198
United Airlines	22%	2.7	Boeing 737 MAX 8, Airbus A319	157	85%	117
Endeavor Air	12%	2.9		75	87%	200
JetBlue	8%	1.1	Airbus A220-300, Airbus A320-200	142	83%	151
Spirit Airlines	4%	0.5	Airbus A320neo, Airbus A320-200	188	77%	104
Delta Air Lines	4%	0.7	Airbus A220-300	110	82%	139
SkyWest Airlines	4%	0.9	Embraer 175	75	83%	188

What explains the differences

It's number 97 of the 100 busiest city pairs by passengers, and number 83 for the lowest CO2 per mile flown (0.20 kg per passenger-mile, number 1 being the lowest). A typical route of 761 miles in this set comes out at about 122 kg, so this one is 23% above it.

The flights use more than one pair of airports: BNA to LGA (48%), BNA to EWR (29%), BNA to JFK (23%). The figures here cover all of them.

The airlines on this route differ by 92% per passenger. Spirit Airlines burned 1,557 gallons per flight and 145 passengers on each, and Endeavor Air 1,332 gallons and 65 passengers. The gap comes from how many passengers share each flight, not from fuel burned per flight. Spirit Airlines flew 77% full here against 87% 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 53% higher.

2019 compared with 2025

In 2019 the route carried 1.3 million passengers on 18 thousand flights. In 2025 it carried 1.6 million, up 26%, on 17 thousand flights, down 3%. The average flight had 92 seats then and 111 now, and 78% of them were filled against 84%.

CO2 per passenger was 179 kg in 2019 and 150 kg in 2025, down 16.4%. Fuel burned per flight was up 8.1% (1,325 gallons to 1,432) and passengers per flight were up 29.3% (72 to 93). The distance flown was about the same (759 miles then, 761 now).

Southwest Airlines led in both years, with 33% of passengers in 2019 and 24% in 2025. Republic Airways gained the most share, 15% to 23%. SkyWest Airlines lost the most, 15% to 4%. JetBlue and Spirit Airlines and Delta Air Lines didn't have 1% of the passengers in 2019 and now together carry 16%. Envoy Air and ExpressJet no longer reach 1% of passengers, having had 9% in 2019.

Airline by airline, United Airlines went from 145 kg to 117 kg per passenger (145 seats per flight to 157, main aircraft Airbus A319 then and Boeing 737 MAX 8 now); Endeavor Air went from 188 kg to 200 kg per passenger (76 seats per flight to 75, main aircraft unlisted aircraft in both years).

New York to Nashville, 2019 and 2025

Measure	2019	2025
Passengers (thousands)	1,288	1,623
Flights (thousands)	17.9	17.4
Seats filled	78%	84%
Gallons of fuel per flight	1,325	1,432
kg CO2 per passenger	179	150

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 Nashville and back: time in the air

Flights from New York to Nashville spent 117 minutes in the air on average in 2025, against 111 minutes from Nashville to New York: 6 minutes longer, 6% 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 754 gallons per flight hour, those extra minutes cost about 77 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

Direction	Average minutes in the air	Flights
New York to Nashville	117.0	8,732
Nashville to New York	110.9	8,690

Fly or drive

Driving is about 890 miles by road, which we estimate as 1.17 times the straight-line distance. An average car emits about 264 kg of CO2 on the trip, at the EPA figure of 0.297 kg per vehicle-mile. Alone, that's 76% more than the 150 kg for a passenger on the flight.

With 2 people in the car, driving comes out lower per person than the flight (132 kg each, and 66 kg each for four). A larger SUV or pickup (0.394 kg per mile) would emit about 351 kg per vehicle.

CO2 per person, New York to Nashville. 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.