How Big Is Dallas/Fort Worth Airport Compared To Other Airports?

Dallas/Fort Worth Airport is one of the most popular airports in the United States. It welcomes over seventy-three million customers annually. DFW is centered right between the two cities of Dallas and Fort Worth, Texas. It is a relatively young airport compared to others as DFW first opened its airways in 1973. At the time of its opening, the airport only had nine operating airlines. In addition to the airlines, a six-hundred-room hotel was at DFW along with several restaurants and small businesses. At the time, Dallas/Fort Worth was the biggest airport in the world. The airport is only twenty-two minutes from the Dallas Cowboys football stadium.

How Big Is The Dallas/Fort Worth Airport?

Dallas/Fort Worth has a surface area of twenty-seven square miles and spans over 17,207 acres of land. They currently have one hundred ninety-three different domestic destinations and sixty-seven different international destinations. The airport has a skyline that helps people travel to the five different terminals they have throughout the area. Its design helps reduce traffic between each terminal.

Dallas/Fort Worth is the largest hub for American Airlines. Some of the other airline carriers include Delta Airlines, Southwest Airlines, Spirit Airlines, Aeromexico, Air Canada, Air France, Avianca, British Airways, Volaris, Sun Country Airlines, Frontier, VivaAerobus, and more. This specific airport is also a hub for freight cargo airlines. Dallas/Fort Worth helps twenty-two different cargo airlines daily.

How Does DFW Compare To Other Airports?

To reiterate, DFW’s surface area is twenty-seven miles and spans over 17,207 acres of land. There are a few other airports that may compare to Dallas/Fort Worth Airport/

Orlando International (MCO)

Orlando International only covers twenty-one square miles. That’s the equivalent of 13,000 acres. They serve twenty-one million passengers annually. The MCO airport handles over eight hundred fifty flights a day. Orlando International has three different terminals and plenty of family-friendly attractions such as a Universal Studios mini-park and a mini-Disney spot.

Los Angeles International (LAX)

Los Angeles Internationals feels like an extension of the many freeways that circle the popular film and entertainment city. LAX spans over three thousand five hundred acres of land. In 2019, the airport served over eighty-eight million passengers. Los Angeles serves over seven hundred daily flights to one hundred thirteen domestic destinations and ninety-one different international destinations.

Some of the airlines at LAX include United Airlines, Emirates, Delta Airlines, Alaska Airlines, JetBlue Airlines, Southwest Airlines, Spirit Airlines, Air Canada, and Air France.

Washington Dulles (IAD)

Washington Dulles is based in the country’s capital Washington D.C. Their airport covers roughly twenty-one square miles and occupies over thirteen thousand acres of land. Although the airport has five concourses, Dulles has one hundred thirteen airline gates! Some of the airlines that fly out of Washington Dulles are United Airlines, American Airlines, Delta Airlines, Aer Lingus, Lufthansa, and Southwest Airlines. They currently serve passengers with one hundred forty-three destinations they can choose to fly to.

George Bush Intercontinental Houston Airport (IAH)

George Bush Intercontinental covers 10,000 acres of land. It is the largest hub for United Airlines and covers fifteen square miles. The airport is located between Interstates 45 and 69. The George Bush Intercontinental Airport serves over forty million customers per year and in 2018, the airport served an average of 1,400 daily flights.

IAH provides flights for their customers to domestic and international destinations. Some of the flight carriers include Aeromexico, United Airlines, American Airlines, Southwest Airlines, Delta Airlines, Emirates, and more. Some destinations they go to are Cancun, London, New Zealand, Tegucigalpa, San Salvador, and Tokyo.

Denver International Airport

Denver International Airport contains thirty-three airlines and serves up to one-hundred eighty-seven total destinations. In 2020, they handled over thirty-two million passengers annually. Their surface area covers fifty-four square miles and covers over thirty-three thousand acres. It is the largest airport in the Western Hemisphere and only the second-largest airport in the world after King Fahd Airport. Denver International is the third overall busiest airport in the world and the third busiest airport in the United States by passenger traffic.

Denver has its fair share of popularity among conspiracy theorists. United Airlines covered some of those conspiracy theories in a joking manner from the horse statue outside of the airport known as “Blue Mustang” to many of the post-apocalyptic artworks inside different parts of the airport.

Hartsfield Jackson Atlanta International Airport 

The Hartsfield Jackson Atlanta International Airport is located in Southside Atlanta, Georgia off of interstates 75 and 85. It contains over two hundred fifty different pieces of artwork and even has occasional live music performances at the airport. Atlanta, Georgia is a popular city for its sports and music scenes.

Hartfield Jackson Atlanta covers 4,500 acres of land and seven square miles. It’s a relatively busy airport like the other ones on this list but is way smaller in size compared to the previous ones mentioned. Atlanta serves twenty-three different airline carriers from Air Canada, American Airlines, Air Canada, British Airways, Copa Airlines, Frontier Airlines, Qatar Airlines, LATAM, Korean Air, Turkish Airlines, Southwest Airlines, Spirit Airlines, and Airway Express.

O’Hare International Airport

This Chicago airport covers over 7,200 acres. It serves as a main hub to connect smaller midwestern cities flights to Chicago. It is a very popular airport that’s an hour east of Lake Michigan. O’Hare is a notoriously busy airport to the extent that people actually drive from Chicago to fly out from Milwaukee International Airport to avoid the people traffic. They help 33.1 million customers annually fly out from one place to another.

John F. Kennedy International Airport

This New York-based airport is 4,930 acres large and 8.1 square miles. JFK Airport is located in Queens, New York. The main airport opened in 1948 and was first recognized as Idlewild Airport. The airport was renamed John F. Kennedy Airport in 1963. There are eight terminals in the airport and passengers have buses and rails accessible to get to each terminal. The airport has an estimated six hundred flights that take off every day. That equates to roughly twenty-six flights every hour.

Some of the different airlines at John F. Kennedy Airport are American Airlines, Alaska Airlines, JetBlue Airlines, China Airlines, Korean Air, Air France, Emirates, Aer Lingus, Air Canada, and Caribbean Airlines. Passengers can fly out from JFK to many international destinations like India, China, Morroco, Egypt, Nigeria, London, Australia, Brazil, Chile, and Belize.

Summary of Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport

The Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport is one of the largest airports in the United States. DFW has a surface area of twenty-seven square miles and spans over 17,207 acres of land. Compared to most airports in the US, Dallas/Fort Worth is a behemoth of an airport. Their only rival would be Denver International which is almost literally double its size in regard to square acres. The chart below summarizes the size of each airport through acres.

The Largest Airports In The United States

However, if the chart was based on the busiest airports in the United States, things would be a little bit different. One thing that would have remained the same is that Dallas would’ve remained second. Dallas serves over thirty-five million passengers as of 2023. Afar Magazine compiled some numbers to find the top-ten busiest airports in the United States and turns out, Hartsfield Jackson is the busiest airport in the United States. Denver would’ve been third if the article focused on the number of passengers they serve annually. Chicago would’ve been fourth and Los Angeles International would have been fifth.