Green Airlines

Rankings / Routes / New York to Orlando

2025 flights

New York to Orlando

Between New York and Orlando, 5.7 million passengers flew nonstop in 2025, on 39 thousand flights of about 947 miles and 2.2 hours in the air. The average passenger accounted for about 141 kg of CO2 from the fuel burned, from 109 kg on Frontier Airlines to 159 kg on American Airlines.

JetBlue still carries more passengers than anyone between New York and Orlando, 32%, but that's down from 39% in 2019, and its 155 kg per passenger is 38% above Spirit's 112 kg. The cabin is most of the reason. JetBlue's Airbus jets average 163 seats a flight on this route, Spirit's 193 and Frontier's 216.

The dense-seat airlines are taking the growth. Spirit and Frontier together carried 13% of passengers in 2019 and carry 18% now, and both come out near 109 to 112 kg.

  • 141 kgCO2 per passenger, average
  • 947 milesabout 2.2 hours in the air
  • 5.7 millionpassengers in 2025
  • 84%of seats filled

CO2 per passenger, airline by airline

CO2 per passenger by airline, New York to OrlandoBar chart of kilograms of CO2 per passenger on each airline between New York and Orlando in 2025.050100150Frontier Airlines109 kgSpirit Airlines112 kgUnited Airlines137 kgSouthwest Airlines137 kgDelta Air Lines145 kgJetBlue155 kgAmerican Airlines159 kg
CO2 per passenger by airline, New York to OrlandoBar chart of kilograms of CO2 per passenger on each airline between New York and Orlando in 2025.050100150Frontier Airlines109 kgSpirit Airlines112 kgUnited Airlines137 kgSouthwest Airlines137 kgDelta Air Lines145 kgJetBlue155 kgAmerican Airlines159 kg
Kilograms of CO2 per passenger, one way, 2025. Fuel burned only. Less is better.
New York to Orlando by airline, 2025
AirlineShare of passengersFlights (thousands)Main aircraftSeats per flightSeats filledkg CO2 per passenger
JetBlue32%13.5Airbus A320-200, Airbus A32116382%155
Delta Air Lines22%8.0Airbus A321, Airbus A321neo19085%145
United Airlines20%7.6Boeing 737-900ER, Boeing 737 MAX 817685%137
Spirit Airlines12%4.1Airbus A320-200, Airbus A320neo19386%112
Frontier Airlines6%2.1Airbus A321neo, Airbus A320neo21681%109
American Airlines4%1.8Boeing 737-800, Boeing 737 MAX 817278%159
Southwest Airlines3%1.3Boeing 737-700, Boeing 737-80016185%137

What explains the differences

It's number 3 of the 100 busiest city pairs by passengers, and number 46 for the lowest CO2 per mile flown (0.15 kg per passenger-mile, number 1 being the lowest). A typical route of 947 miles in this set comes out at about 145 kg, so this one is close to that.

The flights use more than one pair of airports: MCO to EWR (34%), MCO to LGA (28%), MCO to JFK (25%). The figures here cover all of them.

The airlines on this route differ by 46% per passenger. Frontier Airlines burned 1,955 gallons per flight and 175 passengers on each, and American Airlines 2,199 gallons and 134 passengers. Fuel burned per flight explains about 31% of the gap and the number of passengers on each flight the other 69%. Frontier Airlines flew 81% full here against 78% for American Airlines, flying mostly Airbus A321neo against Boeing 737-800.

For comparison, the EPA default factor for a flight of this length (0.129 kg per passenger-mile) would give 122 kg. The EPA figure is a national average for flights of that length. The measured figure for this route is 15% higher.

2019 compared with 2025

In 2019 the route carried 5.4 million passengers on 36 thousand flights. In 2025 it carried 5.7 million, up 7%, on 39 thousand flights, up 7%. The average flight had 171 seats then and 177 now, and 87% of them were filled against 84%.

CO2 per passenger was 142 kg in 2019 and 141 kg in 2025, down 1.2%. Fuel burned per flight was down 1.6% (2,169 gallons to 2,135) and passengers per flight were down 0.4% (148 to 148). The distance flown was about the same (947 miles then, 947 now).

JetBlue led in both years, with 39% of passengers in 2019 and 32% in 2025. Spirit Airlines gained the most share, 8% to 12%. JetBlue lost the most, 39% to 32%.

Airline by airline, Southwest Airlines went from 150 kg to 137 kg per passenger (155 seats per flight to 161, main aircraft Boeing 737-700 in both years); American Airlines went from 152 kg to 159 kg per passenger (171 seats per flight to 172, main aircraft Boeing 737-800 in both years).

The airports changed too: MCO to EWR handled 39% of the passengers in 2019 and 34% in 2025.

New York to Orlando, 2019 and 2025
Measure20192025
Passengers (thousands)5,3665,728
Flights (thousands)36.138.7
Seats filled87%84%
Gallons of fuel per flight2,1692,135
kg CO2 per passenger142141
CO2 per passenger by airline, 2019 and 2025, New York to OrlandoBar chart of kilograms of CO2 per passenger on New York to Orlando for each major airline in 2019 and in 2025.050100150JetBlue 2019149 kgJetBlue 2025155 kgDelta Air Lines 2019140 kgDelta Air Lines 2025145 kgUnited Airlines 2019147 kgUnited Airlines 2025137 kgSpirit Airlines 2019117 kgSpirit Airlines 2025112 kg
CO2 per passenger by airline, 2019 and 2025, New York to OrlandoBar chart of kilograms of CO2 per passenger on New York to Orlando for each major airline in 2019 and in 2025.050100150JetBlue 2019149 kgJetBlue 2025155 kgDelta Air Lines 2019140 kgDelta Air Lines 2025145 kgUnited Airlines 2019147 kgUnited Airlines 2025137 kgSpirit Airlines 2019117 kgSpirit Airlines 2025112 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 Orlando and back: time in the air

Flights from New York to Orlando spent 138 minutes in the air on average in 2025, against 129 minutes from Orlando to New York: 10 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 960 gallons per flight hour, those extra minutes cost about 155 gallons per flight, which is about 1.0 gallons or 10 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 Orlando138.319,327
Orlando to New York128.619,389

Fly or drive

Driving is about 1,108 miles by road, which we estimate as 1.17 times the straight-line distance. An average car emits about 329 kg of CO2 on the trip, at the EPA figure of 0.297 kg per vehicle-mile. Alone, that's 134% more than the 141 kg for a passenger on the flight.

With 3 people in the car, driving comes out lower per person than the flight (110 kg each, and 82 kg each for four). A larger SUV or pickup (0.394 kg per mile) would emit about 437 kg per vehicle.

CO2 per person by way of travel, New York to OrlandoBar chart of kilograms of CO2 per person flying, driving or taking the train between New York and Orlando.0100200300Flight, average141 kgCar, driver alone329 kgCar, 2 people165 kgCar, 4 people82 kg
CO2 per person by way of travel, New York to OrlandoBar chart of kilograms of CO2 per person flying, driving or taking the train between New York and Orlando.0100200300Flight, average141 kgCar, driver alone329 kgCar, 2 people165 kgCar, 4 people82 kg
CO2 per person, New York to Orlando. 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

Delta's 145 kg and United's 137 kg are close to the route average of 141 kg, so the real choice is between those two and the budget carriers, who come out about 22% lower.

New Yorkers don't all leave from the big three. 13% of the passengers use Islip, Westchester or Stewart. Orlando is also a drive some families weigh up: 1,108 road miles is 329 kg for one driver, but with three people it's 110 kg each, 22% below the flight.

Routes with shared cities or nearby CO2 per mile

New York to Miami158 kg CO2 per passenger over 1,082 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 Minneapolis101 kg CO2 per passenger over 680 milesSeattle to Phoenix164 kg CO2 per passenger over 1,107 milesMiami to Boston186 kg CO2 per passenger over 1,244 milesDallas-Fort Worth to Washington, DC178 kg CO2 per passenger over 1,193 miles

Airports on this route: Orlando International Airport, Newark Liberty International Airport, LaGuardia 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.