Air travel looks very different now than it did just a few years ago when the coronavirus pandemic grounded folks around the world, putting a halt to travel for both leisure and business.
In 2020, passenger traffic on U.S. airlines was at its lowest since the mid-1980s, with just 369 million passengers. In 2021, the U.S. started to get back to more normal air travel levels, and by 2022, the country was up to 853 million airline passengers. By the looks of it, 2023 is likely to outpace those numbers and return to pre-pandemic levels—nearly 3 million people flew in and out of U.S. airports daily as of April 2023, according to data from the Federal Aviation Administration's Air Traffic Organization.
When you're at the airport, shuffling around with your roller bag, backpack, neck pillow, and water bottle among the thousands of other passengers doing the same, you're probably not too concerned with more than your flight. Is it on time? Who will be sitting next to you? Did your checked bag make it onto the plane?
But when you're not in flight mode, you may be wondering where all of the other folks at your local airport are traveling to. To answer that question, Stacker compiled a list of the most common domestic flights from Dallas/Fort Worth International using data from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics. Destinations are ranked by total passengers from October 2022 to September 2023.
Read on to find out if your flight patterns are similar to your fellow Dallas/Fort Worth International travelers.
#20. John Wayne Airport-Orange County (Santa Ana, CA)
- Passengers: 475,897 (1.4% of all passengers)
- Top carriers:
--- #1. American Airlines: 456,255
--- #2. Frontier Airlines: 19,642
lunamarina // Shutterstock
2 / 20#19. Logan International (Boston, MA)
- Passengers: 490,341 (1.5% of all passengers)
- Top carriers:
--- #1. American Airlines: 365,071
--- #2. Delta Air Lines: 64,030
--- #3. JetBlue Airways: 44,175
#18. Salt Lake City International (Salt Lake City, UT)
- Passengers: 491,593 (1.5% of all passengers)
- Top carriers:
--- #1. American Airlines: 325,887
--- #2. Delta Air Lines: 165,700
#17. Newark Liberty International (Newark, NJ)
- Passengers: 519,675 (1.6% of all passengers)
- Top carriers:
--- #1. American Airlines: 271,232
--- #2. United Air Lines: 224,084
--- #3. Spirit Air Lines: 19,989
#16. Austin - Bergstrom International (Austin, TX)
- Passengers: 523,798 (1.6% of all passengers)
- Top carriers:
--- #1. American Airlines: 487,454
--- #2. Envoy Air: 31,343
--- #3. SkyWest Airlines: 4,871
Andrew J Simcox // Shutterstock
6 / 20#15. Philadelphia International (Philadelphia, PA)
- Passengers: 545,750 (1.7% of all passengers)
- Top carriers:
--- #1. American Airlines: 446,188
--- #2. Spirit Air Lines: 50,209
--- #3. Frontier Airlines: 49,281
Dancestrokes // Shutterstock
7 / 20#14. San Diego International (San Diego, CA)
- Passengers: 546,669 (1.7% of all passengers)
- Top carriers:
--- #1. American Airlines: 491,486
--- #2. Frontier Airlines: 54,997
--- #3. JetBlue Airways: 123
Pete Niesen // Shutterstock
8 / 20#13. San Francisco International (San Francisco, CA)
- Passengers: 585,133 (1.8% of all passengers)
- Top carriers:
--- #1. American Airlines: 450,000
--- #2. United Air Lines: 80,836
--- #3. Frontier Airlines: 54,245
#12. Charlotte Douglas International (Charlotte, NC)
- Passengers: 585,585 (1.8% of all passengers)
- Top carriers:
--- #1. American Airlines: 567,675
--- #2. Spirit Air Lines: 17,850
#11. George Bush Intercontinental/Houston (Houston, TX)
- Passengers: 613,151 (1.9% of all passengers)
- Top carriers:
--- #1. American Airlines: 328,014
--- #2. United Air Lines: 188,086
--- #3. Mesa Airlines: 67,014
kan_khampanya // Shutterstock
11 / 20#10. Seattle/Tacoma International (Seattle, WA)
- Passengers: 620,104 (1.9% of all passengers)
- Top carriers:
--- #1. American Airlines: 378,754
--- #2. Alaska Airlines: 241,234
--- #3. United Air Lines: 107
Sean Pavone // Shutterstock
12 / 20#9. Miami International (Miami, FL)
- Passengers: 657,042 (2.0% of all passengers)
- Top carriers:
--- #1. American Airlines: 578,142
--- #2. Spirit Air Lines: 65,983
--- #3. Frontier Airlines: 12,859
Nate Hovee // Shutterstock
13 / 20#8. Phoenix Sky Harbor International (Phoenix, AZ)
- Passengers: 744,488 (2.3% of all passengers)
- Top carriers:
--- #1. American Airlines: 624,870
--- #2. Frontier Airlines: 59,847
--- #3. Spirit Air Lines: 59,435
Songquan Deng // Shutterstock
14 / 20#7. Orlando International (Orlando, FL)
- Passengers: 775,539 (2.4% of all passengers)
- Top carriers:
--- #1. American Airlines: 506,377
--- #2. Spirit Air Lines: 180,392
--- #3. Frontier Airlines: 88,770
Thiago Leite // Shutterstock
15 / 20#6. LaGuardia (New York, NY)
- Passengers: 804,064 (2.4% of all passengers)
- Top carriers:
--- #1. American Airlines: 582,957
--- #2. Delta Air Lines: 140,463
--- #3. Spirit Air Lines: 59,433
marchello74 // Shutterstock
16 / 20#5. Chicago O'Hare International (Chicago, IL)
- Passengers: 816,090 (2.5% of all passengers)
- Top carriers:
--- #1. American Airlines: 519,967
--- #2. United Air Lines: 206,498
--- #3. Spirit Air Lines: 88,884
Andrew Zarivny // Shutterstock
17 / 20#4. Denver International (Denver, CO)
- Passengers: 827,939 (2.5% of all passengers)
- Top carriers:
--- #1. American Airlines: 449,585
--- #2. United Air Lines: 199,692
--- #3. Frontier Airlines: 161,002
randy andy // Shutterstock
18 / 20#3. Harry Reid International (Las Vegas, NV)
- Passengers: 925,612 (2.8% of all passengers)
- Top carriers:
--- #1. American Airlines: 563,292
--- #2. Spirit Air Lines: 210,688
--- #3. Frontier Airlines: 130,790
#2. Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International (Atlanta, GA)
- Passengers: 932,678 (2.8% of all passengers)
- Top carriers:
--- #1. Delta Air Lines: 408,083
--- #2. American Airlines: 348,887
--- #3. Spirit Air Lines: 106,597
Strike First // Shutterstock
20 / 20#1. Los Angeles International (Los Angeles, CA)
- Passengers: 1,041,170 (3.2% of all passengers)
- Top carriers:
--- #1. American Airlines: 764,817
--- #2. Spirit Air Lines: 189,613
--- #3. Delta Air Lines: 85,769
This story features data reporting by Rob Powell, writing by Jaimie Etkin, and is part of a series utilizing data automation across 199 metros.
