New York to Raleigh-Durham

Between New York and Raleigh-Durham, 1.8 million passengers flew nonstop in 2025, on 22 thousand flights of about 427 miles and 1.2 hours in the air. The average passenger accounted for about 102 kg of CO2 from the fuel burned, from 57 kg on Frontier Airlines to 123 kg on Endeavor Air.

102 kgCO2 per passenger, average
427 milesabout 1.2 hours in the air
1.8 millionpassengers in 2025
82%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 Raleigh-Durham by airline, 2025

Airline	Share of passengers	Flights (thousands)	Main aircraft	Seats per flight	Seats filled	kg CO2 per passenger
Endeavor Air	26%	7.5		75	85%	123
Republic Airways	25%	7.2	Embraer 175	75	84%	122
United Airlines	21%	3.0	Boeing 737 MAX 9, Airbus A319	159	81%	78
JetBlue	13%	1.9	Airbus A220-300, Airbus A320-200	150	82%	88
Frontier Airlines	6%	0.6	Airbus A321neo, Airbus A320neo	221	80%	57
Breeze Airways	3%	0.7	Airbus A220-300	125	71%	112
Delta Air Lines	3%	0.5	Boeing 737-800	114	80%	89
Spirit Airlines	2%	0.3	Airbus A320-200, Airbus A320neo	183	80%	69

What explains the differences

It's number 80 of the 100 busiest city pairs by passengers, and number 90 for the lowest CO2 per mile flown (0.24 kg per passenger-mile, number 1 being the lowest). A typical route of 427 miles in this set comes out at about 81 kg, so this one is 26% above it.

The flights use more than one pair of airports: LGA to RDU (35%), JFK to RDU (32%), EWR to RDU (30%). The figures here cover all of them.

The airlines on this route differ by 114% per passenger. Frontier Airlines burned 1,048 gallons per flight and 178 passengers on each, and Endeavor Air 806 gallons and 64 passengers. The gap comes from how many passengers share each flight, not from fuel burned per flight. Frontier Airlines flew 80% full here against 85% for Endeavor Air.

For comparison, the EPA default factor for a flight of this length (0.129 kg per passenger-mile) would give 55 kg. The EPA figure is a national average for flights of that length. The measured figure for this route is 86% higher.

2019 compared with 2025

In 2019 the route carried 1.6 million passengers on 24 thousand flights. In 2025 it carried 1.8 million, up 17%, on 22 thousand flights, down 10%. The average flight had 82 seats then and 101 now, and 79% of them were filled against 82%.

CO2 per passenger was 122 kg in 2019 and 102 kg in 2025, down 16.0%. Fuel burned per flight was up 9.0% (804 gallons to 876) and passengers per flight were up 29.7% (64 to 83). The distance flown was about the same (425 miles then, 427 now).

Republic Airways had the most passengers in 2019 (30%) and Endeavor Air in 2025 (26%). United Airlines gained the most share, 13% to 21%. Republic Airways lost the most, 30% to 25%. Frontier Airlines and Breeze Airways and Delta Air Lines and Spirit Airlines didn't have 1% of the passengers in 2019 and now together carry 14%. American Airlines and GoJet Airlines and Envoy Air no longer reach 1% of passengers, having had 21% in 2019.

Airline by airline, JetBlue went from 110 kg to 88 kg per passenger (106 seats per flight to 150, main aircraft Airbus A320-200 then and Airbus A220-300 now); Endeavor Air went from 113 kg to 123 kg per passenger (76 seats per flight to 75, main aircraft unlisted aircraft in both years).

New York to Raleigh-Durham, 2019 and 2025

Measure	2019	2025
Passengers (thousands)	1,550	1,816
Flights (thousands)	24.1	21.8
Seats filled	79%	82%
Gallons of fuel per flight	804	876
kg CO2 per passenger	122	102

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 Raleigh-Durham and back: time in the air

The time in the air is almost the same each way: 73 minutes on average from New York to Raleigh-Durham and 68 minutes back. A difference of 5 minutes is within what routing and congestion alone produce.

Time in the air by direction, 2025

Direction	Average minutes in the air	Flights
New York to Raleigh-Durham	73.2	10,893
Raleigh-Durham to New York	67.8	10,890

Fly or drive

Driving is about 500 miles by road, which we estimate as 1.17 times the straight-line distance. An average car emits about 148 kg of CO2 on the trip, at the EPA figure of 0.297 kg per vehicle-mile. Alone, that's 45% more than the 102 kg for a passenger on the flight.

With 2 people in the car, driving comes out lower per person than the flight (74 kg each, and 37 kg each for four). A larger SUV or pickup (0.394 kg per mile) would emit about 197 kg per vehicle.

CO2 per person, New York to Raleigh-Durham. 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, John F. Kennedy International Airport, Newark Liberty 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.