Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) is the primary airport serving the Dallas, Fort Worth, and the North Texas region. It is one of the busiest airports in the world in terms of passenger traffic and aircraft movements.
Last year, the airport served nearly 88 million passengers with over 740,000 aircraft movement. The airport serves as the largest hub for American Airlines, the second-largest single airline hub in the world.
American Airlines offers several hundred flights from DFW each day across its domestic and international network. Frontier Airlines, an American ultra-low-cost carrier, utilizes DFW as one of 15 major operating bases.
Frontier Airlines operates scheduled flights to over 120 destinations in the United States, Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean.
Data from Cirium, an aviation analytics company, shows that both American and Frontier operate similar routes from Dallas-Fort Worth, with a difference in frequencies. This article compares major routes from DFW for both the airlines and their respective frequencies and seat offerings this month.
Top five routes comparison between the two airlines
Frontier Airlines is scheduled to operate 819 departures from DFW this month, offering 173,860 seats and nearly 168 million Available Seat Miles (ASMs). On the other hand, American Airlines will operate a whopping 7,071 departures from Dallas-Fort Worth this month, offering nearly 1.28 million seats and 1.33 billion ASMs.
- Denver (DEN): 89 flights (17,818 seats, 11.4 million ASMs)
- Las Vegas (LAS): 65 flights (13,686 seats, 14.4 million ASMs)
- Phoenix (PHX): 60 flights (12,494 seats, 10.8 million ASMs)
- Orlando (MCO): 53 flights (10,774 seats, 10.6 million ASMs)
- Atlanta: 47 flights (10,032 seats, 7.3 million ASMs)
The top five Frontier Airlines departures from DFW are Denver (DEN) with 89 flights, Las Vegas (LAS) with 65 flights, Phoenix (PHX) with 60 flights, Orlando (MCO) with 53 flights, and Atlanta with 47 flights.
The airline operates a mix of Airbus A320 family aircraft on these routes, including its fleet of A320s, A320neos, and A321s.
Frontier Airlines Airbus A320neo
- The type is fitted with 186 Recaro SL3710 lightweight slimline seats
- Seat width: 17.7"
- Row pitch:
- Rows 2 to 3: 32"
- Rows 4 to 11: 28"
- Rows 12 and 13: 35"
- Rows 14 to 31: 28"
- Power: There are no seat power or USB sockets provided
The top DFW departures for American Airlines are DFW are Phoenix (PHX) with 435 flights, Los Angeles with 427 flights, Las Vegas (LAS) with 385 flights, Miami (MIA) with 359 flights, and LaGuardia (LGA) with 337 flights.
American Airlines operates a mix of narrowbody and widebody aircraft. While the carrier’s A321 fleet operates most flights on these routes, it also uses Boeing 737-800 and the 787-8 Dreamliner.
- Phoenix (PHX): 435 flights (83,880 seats, 72.8 million ASMs)
- Los Angeles: 427 flights (81,182 seats, 100.3 million ASMs)
- Las Vegas (LAS): 385 flights (74,459 seats, 78.5 million ASMs)
- Miami (MIA): 359 flights (71,316 seats, 78.9 million ASMs)
- LaGuardia (LGA): 337 flights (57,964 seats, 80.5 million ASMs)
American Airlines Airbus A321neo
Domestic First
- 20 Collins Aerospace MiQ cradle seats, arranged in a 2-2 configuration, featuring a six-way adjustable headrest, flip-up tablet holder, and in-arm storage pocket
- Row pitch: 36.5"
- Seat width: 20"
- Seat recline: 5"
- Universal AC and USB-A sockets
Main Cabin Extra
- 35 Collins Meridian slimline seats arranged in a 3-3 configuration, featuring a 4 way adjustable headrest and a tablet holder
- Row pitch: 33" typically
- Seat width: 17.5"
- Seat recline: 3"
Main Cabin
- 129 Collins Meridian slimline seats arranged in a 3-3 configuration, featuring a 4 way adjustable headrest and a tablet holder
- Row pitch: 30"
- Seat width: 17.5"
- Seat recline: 2"
Connectivity
- ViaSat KA-band satellite wifi
In-flight entertainment
- Content streamed to your personal electronic device. These aircraft do not have seat back screens
Comparing the two common routes in the top five - Phoenix and Las Vegas - it is clear that Frontier operates just 14% of what American Airlines operates from DFW to Phoenix. On a typical day in March, Frontier has three departures from DFW to PHX, whereas American Airlines has 14.
As a mainstream carrier, American also operates some widebody aircraft on the route, further enhancing its seat offerings (both in terms of quantity and quality). Similarly, Frontier’s scheduled departures to Las Vegas is approximately 17% of American Airlines offering to LAS.
Other major routes from both airlines
Frontier Airlines
- Houston (IAH): 31 flights (6,628 seats, 1.5 million ASMs)
- Los Angeles (LAX): 31 flights (6,960 seats, 8.6 million ASMs)
- LaGuardia (LGA): 31 flights (6,960 seats, 9.7 million ASMs)
- Chicago Midway (MDW): 31 flights (5,766 seats, 4.6 million ASMs)
- Ontario, California (ONT): 31 flights (6,657 seats, 7.9 million ASMs)
- Chicago O’Hare (ORD): 31 flights (6,772 seats, 5.4 million ASMs)
- San Diego (SAN): 31 flights (6,872 seats, 8.1 million ASMs)
This month, Frontier Airlines operates once-daily departures from DFW to seven airports across the US, including Houston (IAH), Los Angeles (LAX), LaGuardia (LGA), Chicago Midway (MDW), Ontario, California (ONT), Chicago O’Hare (ORD), and San Diego (SAN). On the same routes, American Airlines has a significantly higher number of flights.
For example, American Airlines connects Dallas-Fort Worth with Chicago O’Hare with up to 12 daily flights, compared to just one from Frontier.
Similarly, American Airlines has up to nine daily departures from Dallas to Houston (IAH), offering over 32,500 seats on the route.
Interestingly, American does service Chicago Midway (MDW) airport, the market that goes solely to Frontier.
Some of the other American Airlines hubs, such as Charlotte (CLT) and Philadelphia (PHL), see a significantly higher number of flights by American Airlines than Frontier.
Frontier Airlines flights from DFW to
- Charlotte (CLT): 13 flights (2,996 seats, 2.8 million ASMs)
- Philadelphia (PHL): 17 flights (3,720 seats, 4.8 million ASMs)
American Airlines flights from DFW to
- Charlotte (CLT): 335 flights (64,826 seats, 60.7 million ASMs)
- Philadelphia (PHL): 249 flights (49,327 seats, 64.2 million ASMs)
The three longest routes
The three longest routes from Dallas-Fort Worth operated by each of the two airlines are Seattle Tacoma International (SEA) at 1,660 miles, Boston Logan International (BOS) at 1,562 miles, and San Francisco International (SFO) at 1,465 miles. Frontier Airlines operates a total of 40 departures this month to these three destinations.
Frontier Airlines operations
- Seattle (SEA): 11 flights (2,208 seats, 3.7 million ASMs)
- Boston (Boston): 11 flights (2,100 seats, 3.3 million ASMs)
- San Francisco (SFO): 18 flights (4,136 seats, 6.1 million ASMs)
American Airlines operates a whopping 712 departures on the three routes this month. Each of these routes sees up to ten daily departures from DFW, making them some of the highest-frequency routes for American Airlines.
American Airlines operations
- Seattle (SEA): 235 flights (44,992 seats, 74.7 million ASMs)
- Boston (Boston): 213 flights (38,004 seats, 59.4 million ASMs)
- San Francisco (SFO): 264 flights (48,522 seats, 71.1 million ASMs)
