Washington, DC to Orlando

Between Washington, DC and Orlando, 3.0 million passengers flew nonstop in 2025, on 23 thousand flights of about 770 miles and 1.8 hours in the air. The average passenger accounted for about 124 kg of CO2 from the fuel burned, from 98 kg on Frontier Airlines to 163 kg on Delta Air Lines.

124 kgCO2 per passenger, average
770 milesabout 1.8 hours in the air
3.0 millionpassengers in 2025
78%of seats filled

CO2 per passenger, airline by airline

Kilograms of CO2 per passenger, one way, 2025. Fuel burned only. Less is better.

Washington, DC to Orlando by airline, 2025

Airline	Share of passengers	Flights (thousands)	Main aircraft	Seats per flight	Seats filled	kg CO2 per passenger
Southwest Airlines	37%	9.2	Boeing 737-700, Boeing 737 MAX 8	162	76%	125
United Airlines	19%	4.0	Boeing 737-900ER, Boeing 737 MAX 9	181	82%	113
American Airlines	15%	3.6	Boeing 737-800, Airbus A319	161	77%	141
Frontier Airlines	8%	1.6	Airbus A320neo, Airbus A321neo	203	78%	98
Spirit Airlines	8%	1.5	Airbus A320neo, Airbus A320-200	193	83%	99
JetBlue	8%	1.9	Airbus A320-200, Airbus A220-300	154	77%	143
Delta Air Lines	5%	1.4	Airbus A319, Airbus A320-200	135	77%	163

What explains the differences

It's number 23 of the 100 busiest city pairs by passengers, and number 61 for the lowest CO2 per mile flown (0.16 kg per passenger-mile, number 1 being the lowest). A typical route of 770 miles in this set comes out at about 123 kg, so this one is close to that.

The flights use more than one pair of airports: BWI to MCO (42%), DCA to MCO (36%), IAD to MCO (22%). The figures here cover all of them.

The airlines on this route differ by 65% per passenger. Frontier Airlines burned 1,598 gallons per flight and 158 passengers on each, and Delta Air Lines 1,736 gallons and 104 passengers. Fuel burned per flight explains about 17% of the gap and the number of passengers on each flight the other 83%. Frontier Airlines flew 78% full here against 77% for Delta Air Lines, flying mostly Airbus A320neo against Airbus A319.

For comparison, the EPA default factor for a flight of this length (0.129 kg per passenger-mile) would give 99 kg. The EPA figure is a national average for flights of that length. The measured figure for this route is 25% higher.

2019 compared with 2025

In 2019 the route carried 2.6 million passengers on 20 thousand flights. In 2025 it carried 3.0 million, up 15%, on 23 thousand flights, up 18%. The average flight had 153 seats then and 168 now, and 88% of them were filled against 78%.

CO2 per passenger was 118 kg in 2019 and 124 kg in 2025, up 4.7%. Fuel burned per flight was up 2.0% (1,629 gallons to 1,661) and passengers per flight were down 2.6% (134 to 131). The distance flown was about the same (771 miles then, 770 now).

Southwest Airlines led in both years, with 40% of passengers in 2019 and 37% in 2025. Frontier Airlines gained the most share, 4% to 8%. Spirit Airlines lost the most, 11% to 8%. Delta Air Lines didn't have 1% of the passengers in 2019 and now carries 5%.

Airline by airline, JetBlue went from 163 kg to 143 kg per passenger (101 seats per flight to 154, main aircraft Airbus A320-200 in both years); American Airlines went from 124 kg to 141 kg per passenger (157 seats per flight to 161, main aircraft Airbus A320-200 then and Boeing 737-800 now).

Washington, DC to Orlando, 2019 and 2025

Measure	2019	2025
Passengers (thousands)	2,649	3,040
Flights (thousands)	19.7	23.2
Seats filled	88%	78%
Gallons of fuel per flight	1,629	1,661
kg CO2 per passenger	118	124

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.

Washington, DC to Orlando and back: time in the air

Flights from Washington, DC to Orlando spent 114 minutes in the air on average in 2025, against 106 minutes from Orlando to Washington, DC: 8 minutes longer, 7% more. The route runs mostly north to south, so the winds on the day, routing and congestion decide the difference.

At this route's average burn of about 907 gallons per flight hour, those extra minutes cost about 119 gallons per flight, which is about 0.9 gallons or 9 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
Washington, DC to Orlando	113.8	11,604
Orlando to Washington, DC	105.9	11,610

Fly or drive

Driving is about 901 miles by road, which we estimate as 1.17 times the straight-line distance. An average car emits about 268 kg of CO2 on the trip, at the EPA figure of 0.297 kg per vehicle-mile. Alone, that's 116% more than the 124 kg for a passenger on the flight.

With 3 people in the car, driving comes out lower per person than the flight (89 kg each, and 67 kg each for four). A larger SUV or pickup (0.394 kg per mile) would emit about 355 kg per vehicle.

CO2 per person, Washington, DC 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.

Routes with shared cities or nearby CO2 per mile

Airports on this route: Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, Orlando International Airport, Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Washington Dulles 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.