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Rankings / Routes / Los Angeles to Salt Lake City

2025 flights

Los Angeles to Salt Lake City

Between Los Angeles and Salt Lake City, 2.2 million passengers flew nonstop in 2025, on 20 thousand flights of about 583 miles and 1.5 hours in the air. The average passenger accounted for about 106 kg of CO2 from the fuel burned, from 72 kg on Frontier Airlines to 151 kg on SkyWest Airlines.

  • 106 kgCO2 per passenger, average
  • 583 milesabout 1.5 hours in the air
  • 2.2 millionpassengers in 2025
  • 81%of seats filled

CO2 per passenger, airline by airline

CO2 per passenger by airline, Los Angeles to Salt Lake CityBar chart of kilograms of CO2 per passenger on each airline between Los Angeles and Salt Lake City in 2025.050100150Frontier Airlines72 kgDelta Air Lines98 kgSouthwest Airlines107 kgSkyWest Airlines151 kg
CO2 per passenger by airline, Los Angeles to Salt Lake CityBar chart of kilograms of CO2 per passenger on each airline between Los Angeles and Salt Lake City in 2025.050100150Frontier Airlines72 kgDelta Air Lines98 kgSouthwest Airlines107 kgSkyWest Airlines151 kg
Kilograms of CO2 per passenger, one way, 2025. Fuel burned only. Less is better.
Los Angeles to Salt Lake City by airline, 2025
AirlineShare of passengersFlights (thousands)Main aircraftSeats per flightSeats filledkg CO2 per passenger
Delta Air Lines65%11.4Boeing 737-900ER15282%98
SkyWest Airlines16%5.9Embraer 1757283%151
Southwest Airlines11%2.1Boeing 737-700, Boeing 737 MAX 815672%107
Frontier Airlines6%0.8Airbus A320neo, Airbus A321neo20582%72

What explains the differences

It's number 59 of the 100 busiest city pairs by passengers, and number 79 for the lowest CO2 per mile flown (0.18 kg per passenger-mile, number 1 being the lowest). A typical route of 583 miles in this set comes out at about 100 kg, so this one is 5.6% above it.

The flights use more than one pair of airports: LAX to SLC (51%), SNA to SLC (15%), LGB to SLC (14%). The figures here cover all of them.

The airlines on this route differ by 110% per passenger. Frontier Airlines burned 1,239 gallons per flight and 167 passengers on each, and SkyWest Airlines 931 gallons and 60 passengers. The gap comes from how many passengers share each flight, not from fuel burned per flight. Frontier Airlines flew 82% full here against 83% for SkyWest Airlines, flying mostly Airbus A320neo against Embraer 175.

For comparison, the EPA default factor for a flight of this length (0.129 kg per passenger-mile) would give 75 kg. The EPA figure is a national average for flights of that length. The measured figure for this route is 41% higher.

2019 compared with 2025

In 2019 the route carried 2.6 million passengers on 26 thousand flights. In 2025 it carried 2.2 million, down 16%, on 20 thousand flights, down 21%. The average flight had 114 seats then and 131 now, and 88% of them were filled against 81%.

CO2 per passenger was 113 kg in 2019 and 106 kg in 2025, down 6.0%. Fuel burned per flight was down 0.1% (1,155 gallons to 1,154) and passengers per flight were up 6.3% (100 to 106). The distance flown was about the same (585 miles then, 583 now).

Delta Air Lines led in both years, with 50% of passengers in 2019 and 65% in 2025. SkyWest Airlines lost the most, 25% to 16%. Frontier Airlines didn't have 1% of the passengers in 2019 and now carries 6%. JetBlue and Compass Airlines no longer reach 1% of passengers, having had 15% in 2019.

Airline by airline, Delta Air Lines went from 101 kg to 98 kg per passenger (146 seats per flight to 152, main aircraft Boeing 737-800 then and Boeing 737-900ER now); SkyWest Airlines went from 141 kg to 151 kg per passenger (74 seats per flight to 72, main aircraft Embraer 175 in both years).

Los Angeles to Salt Lake City, 2019 and 2025
Measure20192025
Passengers (thousands)2,5782,166
Flights (thousands)25.820.4
Seats filled88%81%
Gallons of fuel per flight1,1551,154
kg CO2 per passenger113106
CO2 per passenger by airline, 2019 and 2025, Los Angeles to Salt Lake CityBar chart of kilograms of CO2 per passenger on Los Angeles to Salt Lake City for each major airline in 2019 and in 2025.050100150Delta Air Lines 2019101 kgDelta Air Lines 202598 kgSkyWest Airlines 2019141 kgSkyWest Airlines 2025151 kgSouthwest Airlines 2019104 kgSouthwest Airlines 2025107 kg
CO2 per passenger by airline, 2019 and 2025, Los Angeles to Salt Lake CityBar chart of kilograms of CO2 per passenger on Los Angeles to Salt Lake City for each major airline in 2019 and in 2025.050100150Delta Air Lines 2019101 kgDelta Air Lines 202598 kgSkyWest Airlines 2019141 kgSkyWest Airlines 2025151 kgSouthwest Airlines 2019104 kgSouthwest Airlines 2025107 kg
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.

Los Angeles to Salt Lake City and back: time in the air

The time in the air is almost the same each way: 85 minutes on average from Los Angeles to Salt Lake City and 90 minutes back. A difference of 5 minutes is within what routing and congestion alone produce.

Time in the air by direction, 2025
DirectionAverage minutes in the airFlights
Salt Lake City to Los Angeles89.710,192
Los Angeles to Salt Lake City84.510,183

Fly or drive

Driving is about 682 miles by road, which we estimate as 1.17 times the straight-line distance. An average car emits about 203 kg of CO2 on the trip, at the EPA figure of 0.297 kg per vehicle-mile. Alone, that's 91% more than the 106 kg for a passenger on the flight.

With 2 people in the car, driving comes out lower per person than the flight (101 kg each, and 51 kg each for four). A larger SUV or pickup (0.394 kg per mile) would emit about 269 kg per vehicle.

CO2 per person by way of travel, Los Angeles to Salt Lake CityBar chart of kilograms of CO2 per person flying, driving or taking the train between Los Angeles and Salt Lake City.050100150200Flight, average106 kgCar, driver alone203 kgCar, 2 people101 kgCar, 4 people51 kg
CO2 per person by way of travel, Los Angeles to Salt Lake CityBar chart of kilograms of CO2 per person flying, driving or taking the train between Los Angeles and Salt Lake City.0100200Flight, average106 kgCar, driver alone203 kgCar, 2 people101 kgCar, 4 people51 kg
CO2 per person, Los Angeles to Salt Lake City. 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

Los Angeles to San Francisco75 kg CO2 per passenger over 337 milesLos Angeles to Las Vegas53 kg CO2 per passenger over 227 milesNew York to Los Angeles406 kg CO2 per passenger over 2,465 milesLos Angeles to Dallas-Fort Worth171 kg CO2 per passenger over 1,222 milesAtlanta to Tampa73 kg CO2 per passenger over 406 milesSan Francisco to San Diego78 kg CO2 per passenger over 436 milesSan Francisco to Portland103 kg CO2 per passenger over 554 milesDenver to Salt Lake City73 kg CO2 per passenger over 391 miles

Airports on this route: Los Angeles International Airport, John Wayne Airport, Ontario International Airport, Hollywood Burbank 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.