Dallas-Fort Worth to San Antonio

Between Dallas-Fort Worth and San Antonio, 1.6 million passengers flew nonstop in 2025, on 14 thousand flights of about 247 miles and 46 minutes in the air. The average passenger accounted for about 60 kg of CO2 from the fuel burned, from 56 kg on American Airlines to 83 kg on SkyWest Airlines.

60 kgCO2 per passenger, average
247 milesabout 46 minutes in the air
1.6 millionpassengers in 2025
77%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 San Antonio by airline, 2025

Airline	Share of passengers	Flights (thousands)	Main aircraft	Seats per flight	Seats filled	kg CO2 per passenger
American Airlines	57%	6.9	Boeing 737-800, Airbus A319	162	83%	56
Southwest Airlines	35%	5.5	Boeing 737-700, Boeing 737 MAX 8	157	67%	61
Envoy Air	5%	1.2	Embraer 175	75	93%	74
SkyWest Airlines	3%	0.7		69	86%	83

What explains the differences

It's number 95 of the 100 busiest city pairs by passengers, and number 91 for the lowest CO2 per mile flown (0.24 kg per passenger-mile, number 1 being the lowest). A typical route of 247 miles in this set comes out at about 59 kg, so this one is close to that.

The flights use more than one pair of airports: DFW to SAT (65%), DAL to SAT (36%). The figures here cover all of them.

The airlines on this route differ by 48% per passenger. American Airlines burned 775 gallons per flight and 134 passengers on each, and SkyWest Airlines 500 gallons and 59 passengers. The gap comes from how many passengers share each flight, not from fuel burned per flight. American Airlines flew 83% full here against 86% for SkyWest Airlines.

For comparison, the EPA default factor for a flight of this length (0.207 kg per passenger-mile) would give 51 kg. The EPA figure is a national average for flights of that length. The measured figure for this route is 17% higher.

2019 compared with 2025

In 2019 the route carried 1.8 million passengers on 14 thousand flights. In 2025 it carried 1.6 million, down 7%, on 14 thousand flights, up 2%. The average flight had 154 seats then and 148 now, and 82% of them were filled against 77%.

CO2 per passenger was 57 kg in 2019 and 60 kg in 2025, up 4.3%. Fuel burned per flight was down 5.3% (737 gallons to 698) and passengers per flight were down 9.3% (126 to 114). The distance flown was about the same (247 miles then, 247 now).

American Airlines led in both years, with 59% of passengers in 2019 and 57% in 2025. Southwest Airlines lost the most, 41% to 35%. Envoy Air and SkyWest Airlines didn't have 1% of the passengers in 2019 and now together carry 8%.

Airline by airline, American Airlines went from 57 kg to 56 kg per passenger (162 seats per flight to 162, main aircraft Boeing 737-800 in both years); Southwest Airlines went from 58 kg to 61 kg per passenger (146 seats per flight to 157, main aircraft Boeing 737-700 in both years).

The airports changed too: DFW to SAT handled 59% of the passengers in 2019 and 65% in 2025.

Dallas-Fort Worth to San Antonio, 2019 and 2025

Measure	2019	2025
Passengers (thousands)	1,769	1,637
Flights (thousands)	14.1	14.3
Seats filled	82%	77%
Gallons of fuel per flight	737	698
kg CO2 per passenger	57	60

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 San Antonio and back: time in the air

The time in the air is almost the same each way: 45 minutes on average from Dallas-Fort Worth to San Antonio and 47 minutes back. A difference of 3 minutes is within what routing and congestion alone produce.

Time in the air by direction, 2025

Direction	Average minutes in the air	Flights
San Antonio to Dallas-Fort Worth	47.4	7,237
Dallas-Fort Worth to San Antonio	44.7	7,102

Fly or drive

Driving is about 289 miles by road, which we estimate as 1.17 times the straight-line distance. An average car emits about 86 kg of CO2 on the trip, at the EPA figure of 0.297 kg per vehicle-mile. Alone, that's 44% more than the 60 kg for a passenger on the flight.

With 2 people in the car, driving comes out lower per person than the flight (43 kg each, and 21 kg each for four). A larger SUV or pickup (0.394 kg per mile) would emit about 114 kg per vehicle.

CO2 per person, Dallas-Fort Worth to San Antonio. 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, 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.