Carbon dioxide equivalent — a standard unit combining CO2 and other greenhouse gases' warming effects into one comparable figure.

Is this the same as this site's other Carbon Footprint Calculator?

No — that tool is a broader household estimate using a flat short/long-haul flight assumption; this tool is flight-specific, using your actual distance and cabin class for more precision on one trip.

What is the radiative forcing index (RFI)?

An adjustment some carbon-accounting methodologies apply to account for aviation's non-CO2 warming effects (like contrails and NOx at altitude) — this tool reports the pre-RFI CO2e figure only, so real climate impact may be somewhat higher.

Where do these emission factors come from?

DEFRA's (UK Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs) 2023 GHG Conversion Factors for Company Reporting, a widely used, publicly published dataset for aviation emissions by cabin class.

Does this account for a specific airline or aircraft type?

No — these are averaged UK government conversion factors, not airline- or aircraft-specific figures, which can vary somewhat by fleet efficiency and load factor.

All tools

Math & Everyday

Flight Carbon Footprint Calculator

CO2e per passenger for a specific flight, by distance and cabin class.

🔒 Runs entirely in your browser — nothing here is ever uploaded

Remove ads →

About the Flight Carbon Footprint Calculator

Estimates CO2e emissions for a specific flight from its distance and cabin class, using DEFRA's published 2023 UK Government GHG Conversion Factors for aviation — distinct from this site's broader household Carbon Footprint Calculator's flat short/long-haul estimate.

100% Free Runs in Your Browser No Sign-Up Required

How to use it

Enter the flight distance and whether it's a round trip.
Select the cabin class.
Enter the number of passengers for a group total.
Read the CO2e per passenger, and how cabin class changes it for the same route.

Formula

Distance in km = miles × 1.60934 (if entered in miles). Effective distance = distance × 2 if round trip. CO2e per passenger (kg) = effective distance (km) × that cabin class's kg CO2e per passenger-km factor (Economy 0.1553, Premium Economy 0.23295, Business 0.42839, First 0.61219).

Worked example

A 2,500-mile round-trip flight in economy: 8,046.7 km effective distance × 0.1553 kg/pkm = about 1,250 kg (1.25 tonnes) CO2e per passenger. The same route in first class would be roughly 4x that.

DEFRA 2023 CO2e per passenger-km by cabin class

DEFRA 2023 CO2e per passenger-km by cabin class
Cabin class	kg CO2e / passenger-km
Economy	0.1553
Premium Economy	0.23295
Business	0.42839
First	0.61219

Interpreting your result

Uses DEFRA's 2023 UK Government GHG Conversion Factors for aviation — real published per-passenger, per-kilometre CO2e figures by cabin class, before the radiative forcing index (RFI) adjustment some methodologies add for aviation's additional non-CO2 warming effects (contrails, NOx), which would raise every figure here further. Premium cabins carry a higher per-passenger footprint mainly because they take up more of the aircraft's floor space, dividing the same flight's total emissions among fewer people — not because more fuel is burned per passenger in a simple sense.

Recommendations

• First class runs roughly 4x economy's footprint per passenger on the same flight; business runs roughly 3x — mainly a floor-space/seating-density effect, not a fuel-burn-per-person effect.
• This doesn't include the radiative forcing index (RFI) some stricter methodologies apply for aviation's non-CO2 warming effects — real climate impact may be higher than the CO2e figure alone suggests.
• For a household-level, multi-category estimate instead of a single flight, see this site's Carbon Footprint Calculator.

Frequently asked questions

Premium cabins take up more floor space per passenger (fewer seats fit in the same area), so the flight's total emissions are divided among fewer people in that cabin — not because the flight burns extra fuel for you specifically.