Dallas-Fort Worth to Orlando

Between Dallas-Fort Worth and Orlando, 2.3 million passengers flew nonstop in 2025, on 15 thousand flights of about 981 miles and 2.3 hours in the air. The average passenger accounted for about 138 kg of CO2 from the fuel burned, from 108 kg on Frontier Airlines to 146 kg on American Airlines.

138 kgCO2 per passenger, average
981 milesabout 2.3 hours in the air
2.3 millionpassengers in 2025
86%of seats filled

CO2 per passenger, airline by airline

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

Dallas-Fort Worth to Orlando by airline, 2025

Airline	Share of passengers	Flights (thousands)	Main aircraft	Seats per flight	Seats filled	kg CO2 per passenger
American Airlines	51%	6.9	Airbus A321, Airbus A321neo	190	89%	146
Southwest Airlines	30%	5.2	Boeing 737 MAX 8, Boeing 737-700	164	82%	138
Frontier Airlines	10%	1.2	Airbus A320neo, Airbus A321neo	209	87%	108
Spirit Airlines	9%	1.2	Airbus A320-200, Airbus A320neo	193	88%	118

What explains the differences

It's number 55 of the 100 busiest city pairs by passengers, and number 32 for the lowest CO2 per mile flown (0.14 kg per passenger-mile, number 1 being the lowest). A typical route of 981 miles in this set comes out at about 149 kg, so this one is 7.7% below it.

The flights use more than one pair of airports: DFW to MCO (70%), DAL to MCO (30%). The figures here cover all of them.

The airlines on this route differ by 36% per passenger. Frontier Airlines burned 2,003 gallons per flight and 181 passengers on each, and American Airlines 2,527 gallons and 168 passengers. Fuel burned per flight explains about 76% of the gap and the number of passengers on each flight the other 24%. Frontier Airlines flew 87% full here against 89% for American Airlines, flying mostly Airbus A320neo against Airbus A321.

For comparison, the EPA default factor for a flight of this length (0.129 kg per passenger-mile) would give 127 kg. The EPA figure is a national average for flights of that length. The measured figure for this route is 8.7% higher.

2019 compared with 2025

In 2019 the route carried 1.8 million passengers on 12 thousand flights. In 2025 it carried 2.3 million, up 26%, on 15 thousand flights, up 23%. The average flight had 172 seats then and 182 now, and 89% of them were filled against 86%.

CO2 per passenger was 143 kg in 2019 and 138 kg in 2025, down 3.7%. Fuel burned per flight was down 1.0% (2,234 gallons to 2,212) and passengers per flight were up 2.8% (152 to 157). The distance flown was about the same (982 miles then, 981 now).

American Airlines led in both years, with 59% of passengers in 2019 and 51% in 2025. Frontier Airlines gained the most share, 3% to 10%. American Airlines lost the most, 59% to 51%.

Airline by airline, Spirit Airlines went from 129 kg to 118 kg per passenger (179 seats per flight to 193, main aircraft Airbus A320-200 in both years); Southwest Airlines went from 140 kg to 138 kg per passenger (154 seats per flight to 164, main aircraft Boeing 737-700 then and Boeing 737 MAX 8 now).

The airports changed too: DFW to MCO handled 76% of the passengers in 2019 and 70% in 2025.

Dallas-Fort Worth to Orlando, 2019 and 2025

Measure	2019	2025
Passengers (thousands)	1,815	2,287
Flights (thousands)	11.9	14.6
Seats filled	89%	86%
Gallons of fuel per flight	2,234	2,212
kg CO2 per passenger	143	138

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.

Dallas-Fort Worth to Orlando and back: time in the air

Flights from Orlando to Dallas-Fort Worth spent 146 minutes in the air on average in 2025, against 127 minutes from Dallas-Fort Worth to Orlando: 18 minutes longer, 14% 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 972 gallons per flight hour, those extra minutes cost about 293 gallons per flight, which is about 1.9 gallons or 18 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
Orlando to Dallas-Fort Worth	145.5	7,306
Dallas-Fort Worth to Orlando	127.4	7,286

Fly or drive

Driving is about 1,148 miles by road, which we estimate as 1.17 times the straight-line distance. An average car emits about 341 kg of CO2 on the trip, at the EPA figure of 0.297 kg per vehicle-mile. Alone, that's 148% more than the 138 kg for a passenger on the flight.

With 3 people in the car, driving comes out lower per person than the flight (114 kg each, and 85 kg each for four). A larger SUV or pickup (0.394 kg per mile) would emit about 452 kg per vehicle.

CO2 per person, Dallas-Fort Worth 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: Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, Orlando International Airport, Dallas Love Field.

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.