Metro area · Dallas–Fort Worth
Which Dallas–Fort Worth airport should you fly from?
DFW and DAL compared on 1,185,765 departures, July 2023 – July 2026: how often flights arrive on time, how often they are cancelled, how long they taxi, and how all of it changes with the time of day. Add a destination to compare the routes each airport flies there.
Enter an airport code. You get the route from each of DFW, DAL to it, side by side. The suggestions are places at least two of these airports fly to.
What stands out in the Dallas–Fort Worth area
Each line is worked out from the figures below. A lead is claimed only where it is larger than chance.
- On-time arrivalDAL had the best on-time arrival rate, 76.0%, ahead of DFW at 73.1%. Best to worst is 2.9 points.
- CancellationsDFW cancelled 2.27% of its flights, 1.9 times the rate at DAL (1.22%).
- Taxi timeTaxi-out averages 19.6 min at DFW and 13.0 min at DAL, 6.6 minutes more between pushback and wheels-up. Coming in, taxi time runs from 5.5 min at DAL to 13.5 min at DFW.
- Time of dayThe best airport depends on when you leave: clearly ahead DAL at 5–9 AM, 9 AM–12 PM, 12–3 PM, and 3–6 PM and DFW at 9 PM–5 AM. The gap is widest for departures at 9 PM–5 AM (DFW 67.1% against DAL 59.4%) and narrowest at 6–9 PM (0.1 points).
- Hour by hourThe biggest swing through the day is at DAL: 6 AM–7 AM reached 93.5% on time (17,167 flights) and 10 PM–11 PM fell to 58.3% (5,708), 35.2 points apart. At both airports the worst hour falls in the 9 PM–5 AM window.
- AirlinesSouthwest Airlines flies 97% of departures from DAL, and one carrier also flies more than half at DFW. The largest carrier at each: Southwest Airlines at DAL (97%) and American Airlines at DFW (53%). Carriers with 500 or more departures at only one of them: American Airlines, Envoy Air, and SkyWest Airlines at DFW and Southwest Airlines at DAL.
- Destinations176 destinations outside the metro area get 750 or more flights from these airports; 52 of them from at least two and 52 from every airport. DFW alone serves 122 destinations (49% of its departures), including Houston (IAH), San Francisco (SFO), and Boston (BOS).
- Same destinationsOn the 52 destinations every airport serves, on-time arrival runs from 71.6% at DFW to 76.1% at DAL: 4.5 points, wider than the 2.9 points over all their flights; DAL leads clearly.
DFW and DAL side by side
Every flight that left each airport, July 2023 – July 2026. The same measures as the compare tool, so a figure here is the figure there.
DAL is clearly ahead on 3 of 4 rates; the other one is too close to call.
| Metric | DFW | DAL |
|---|---|---|
| On-time arrival | 73.1% | 76.0% (better) |
| Cancellation rate | 2.27% | 1.22% (better) |
| Severe delay (60+ min) | 10.3% | 7.0% (better) |
| Average arrival delay | 13 min | 8 min (better) |
| Median arrival delay | -4 min (better) | -3 min |
| Departure on-time · too close to call | 72.5% | 72.6% |
| Flights analyzed | 961,718 | 224,047 |
A check mark and green mark the best figure in a row (higher for on-time rates, lower for delays and cancellations) when it is clearly better than the other’s: a two-proportion test on each airport’s flight count, at about 95% confidence. Otherwise the row says “too close to call”. Average and median delay carry no sample-error estimate here, so they are marked by the printed figure alone.
Share of the metro is each airport’s part of the 1,185,765 departures at these 2 airports. Taxi-out is pushback to wheels-up on departure and taxi-in is touchdown to gate on arrival, averaged over all flights. The score is the FlyerIntel Reliability Score, 0 to 100.
Source: FlyerIntel analysis of US DOT BTS data · July 2023 – July 2026 · Departing flights only.
By departure time
On-time arrival for flights leaving in each part of the day, at each airport.
| Leaving | DFW | DAL | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5–9 AM | 84.8%182,570 flights | 91.2% (best)46,132 flights | 6.4 pts |
| 9 AM–12 PM | 78.5%154,042 flights | 83.8% (best)41,568 flights | 5.3 pts |
| 12–3 PM | 74.3%180,924 flights | 76.3% (best)41,776 flights | 2.0 pts |
| 3–6 PM | 67.3%161,775 flights | 68.1% (best)40,168 flights | 0.8 pts |
| 6–9 PM · too close to call | 63.8%182,639 flights | 63.7%39,339 flights | 0.1 pts |
| 9 PM–5 AM | 67.1% (best)99,768 flights | 59.4%15,064 flights | 7.7 pts |
A window needs at least 120 flights at an airport to be scored. The check mark uses the same test as the table above. Gap is best minus worst among the scored airports.
Source: FlyerIntel analysis of US DOT BTS data · July 2023 – July 2026 · Windows are the scheduled local departure time at each airport.
Best and worst hour
On-time arrival by scheduled departure hour, for the hours with enough flights to score.
| Airport | Best hour | Worst hour | Swing |
|---|---|---|---|
| DFW19 hours scored | 5 AM–6 AM87.9% · 12,571 flights | 11 PM–12 AM56.7% · 1,295 flights | 31.2 pts |
| DAL18 hours scored | 6 AM–7 AM93.5% · 17,167 flights | 10 PM–11 PM58.3% · 5,708 flights | 35.2 pts |
DFW
- 12 AM to 4 AM: too few flights to score
- 5 AM: 87.9% on time from 12,571 flights
- 6 AM: 85.5% on time from 15,233 flights
- 7 AM: 85.2% on time from 62,158 flights
- 8 AM: 84.1% on time from 92,608 flights
- 9 AM: 77.9% on time from 31,828 flights
- 10 AM: 80.6% on time from 81,388 flights
- 11 AM: 74.6% on time from 40,826 flights
- 12 PM: 78.1% on time from 74,916 flights
- 1 PM: 71.3% on time from 42,662 flights
- 2 PM: 71.8% on time from 63,346 flights
- 3 PM: 66.7% on time from 45,295 flights
- 4 PM: 69.0% on time from 64,391 flights
- 5 PM: 65.7% on time from 52,089 flights
- 6 PM: 64.2% on time from 59,301 flights
- 7 PM: 64.2% on time from 72,889 flights
- 8 PM: 62.7% on time from 50,449 flights
- 9 PM: 68.3% on time from 58,976 flights
- 10 PM: 65.7% on time from 39,456 flights
- 11 PM: 56.7% on time from 1,295 flights
DAL
- 12 AM to 4 AM: too few flights to score
- 5 AM: 81.6% on time from 140 flights
- 6 AM: 93.5% on time from 17,167 flights
- 7 AM: 90.0% on time from 13,785 flights
- 8 AM: 89.6% on time from 15,040 flights
- 9 AM: 87.1% on time from 13,611 flights
- 10 AM: 83.6% on time from 13,354 flights
- 11 AM: 81.0% on time from 14,603 flights
- 12 PM: 78.2% on time from 14,071 flights
- 1 PM: 75.3% on time from 14,136 flights
- 2 PM: 75.5% on time from 13,569 flights
- 3 PM: 71.0% on time from 13,250 flights
- 4 PM: 67.5% on time from 13,761 flights
- 5 PM: 65.9% on time from 13,157 flights
- 6 PM: 64.9% on time from 13,050 flights
- 7 PM: 63.4% on time from 13,473 flights
- 8 PM: 62.8% on time from 12,816 flights
- 9 PM: 60.1% on time from 9,356 flights
- 10 PM: 58.3% on time from 5,708 flights
- 11 PM: too few flights to score
Each chart has its own scale, so read the numbers in the table, not the bar heights, when comparing airports. The best and worst of 24 hours are the two extremes, so a small airport’s best hour is partly luck; the flight count is beside each. A swing under 3 points, or one the two hours’ flight counts cannot separate from chance, is marked as within noise.
Source: FlyerIntel analysis of US DOT BTS data · July 2023 – July 2026 · Hours are the scheduled local departure hour. An hour needs at least 120 flights to be scored.
Where each airport is strongest
Where it is clearly better than every other airport here, where it flies, and who flies there.
DFW Dallas–Fort Worth
No rate on which it is clearly better than every other airport here. Clearly ahead for departures at 9 PM–5 AM.
Busiest destinations
| To | A day | Share |
|---|---|---|
| LAX Los Angeles | 18.3 | 2.1% |
| ORD Chicago | 18.2 | 2.1% |
| ATL Atlanta | 18.0 | 2.1% |
| LGA New York | 17.9 | 2.1% |
| DEN Denver | 16.7 | 2.0% |
| LAS Las Vegas | 15.7 | 1.8% |
174 destinations with 750 or more flights carry 100% of its departures. 122 of them are served by no other airport here (49% of departures), the largest Houston (IAH), San Francisco (SFO), and Boston (BOS).
Airlines
| Airline | Share | On time |
|---|---|---|
| American Airlines | 53% | 68.1% |
| Envoy Air | 21% | 81.5% |
| SkyWest Airlines | 8.1% | 78.8% |
| PSA Airlines | 4.5% | 74.0% |
| Delta Air Lines | 3.8% | 81.9% |
American Airlines flies 53% of departures, over the 50% that makes an airport that carrier’s. With 500 or more departures only here: American Airlines, Envoy Air, SkyWest Airlines, and PSA Airlines.
DAL Dallas
Clearly best on on-time arrival, cancellations, and severe delays. Clearly ahead for departures at 5–9 AM, 9 AM–12 PM, 12–3 PM, and 3–6 PM.
Busiest destinations
| To | A day | Share |
|---|---|---|
| HOU Houston | 11.2 | 5.7% |
| ATL Atlanta | 9.6 | 4.8% |
| DEN Denver | 8.8 | 4.4% |
| PHX Phoenix | 8.2 | 4.1% |
| LAS Las Vegas | 8.1 | 4.1% |
| SAT San Antonio | 7.6 | 3.8% |
54 destinations with 750 or more flights carry 96% of its departures. 2 of them are served by no other airport here (2% of departures), the largest Long Beach (LGB) and Oakland (OAK).
Airlines
| Airline | Share | On time |
|---|---|---|
| Southwest Airlines | 97% | 75.8% |
| Delta Air Lines | 2.8% | 81.8% |
| Alaska Airlines | 0.4% | 82.9% |
Southwest Airlines flies 97% of departures, over the 50% that makes an airport that carrier’s. With 500 or more departures only here: Southwest Airlines.
Airlines are the operating carrier, so a regional airline flying for a larger one is listed under its own name. Only airlines with at least 500 departures at an airport are listed there.
Source: FlyerIntel analysis of US DOT BTS data · July 2023 – July 2026
Holding the destination or the airline still
Two ways to take one reason for a gap out of the comparison.
Destinations every airport serves
52 places get 750 or more flights from each of DFW and DAL. Counting only flights to those places (50% of DFW’s and 95% of DAL’s departures):
| Measure | DFW | DAL |
|---|---|---|
| On-time arrival | 71.6% | 76.1% (best) |
| Cancellation rate | 2.25% | 1.24% (best) |
| Severe delay (60+ min) | 10.7% | 7.0% (best) |
| Flights | 483,008 | 212,298 |
The shared places: Albuquerque (ABQ), Amarillo (AMA), Atlanta (ATL), Austin (AUS), Birmingham (BHM), Nashville (BNA), Burbank (BUR), Baltimore (BWI), Charleston (CHS), Charlotte (CLT), Columbus (CMH), Colorado Springs (COS), Washington (DCA), Denver (DEN), and 38 more.
The same airline at different airports
Where one airline flies from several of these airports, its own on-time rate at each. The airline is the same, so a gap is not about who flies, though the routes each flies from an airport still differ.
| Airline | DFW | DAL |
|---|---|---|
| Delta Air Lines · too close to call | 81.9%36,710 flights | 81.8%6,380 flights |
| Alaska Airlines | 70.9%7,338 flights | 82.9% (best)879 flights |
Source: FlyerIntel analysis of US DOT BTS data · July 2023 – July 2026 · Same test as above. A dash means the airline has fewer than 500 departures at that airport.
What these figures do not compare
Reasons two airports can differ that have nothing to do with how well either is run.
- Different airlines. American Airlines flies 53% of DFW’s departures; Southwest Airlines flies 97% of DAL’s departures. An airline brings its own schedule, aircraft and habits to an airport, so part of every gap above is a gap between carriers.
- Different destinations. 49% of DFW’s departures and 2% of DAL’s departures go to places no other airport here serves. An on-time arrival is counted at the far end, so weather and congestion at the destination are in the figure.
- Different trip lengths. The average route, weighted by flights, is 808 miles from DFW and 724 miles from DAL. Short regional hops and long coast-to-coast flights fail in different ways.
- Ground time belongs to the airport. Taxi-out and the share of flights that push back on time measure the airport itself. On-time arrival measures the whole trip.
- History, not a forecast. These are flights from July 2023 – July 2026. A storm cancels hundreds of flights together, so a clear gap is a statement about this sample, not a promise about your trip.
Analysis last recomputed
How the metro areas are chosen and what a lead means: how this works. All figures are from the methodology the airport pages use.
Other metro areas
- New York (LGA, EWR, JFK)
- Chicago (ORD, MDW)
- Los Angeles (LAX, SNA, BUR, ONT)
- Washington (DCA, BWI, IAD)
- San Francisco (SFO, SJC, OAK)
- Miami (MIA, FLL)
- Houston (IAH, HOU)