Denver (DEN) – Los Angeles (LAX)
- Distance
- 1,387 km
- 862 mi · 749 nm
- Flight time
- 2 h 29 min / 2 h 19 min
- Average gate to gate: DEN → LAX / back
- Time difference
- 1 h
- CO2 per passenger
- 174 kg
- One way, economy, incl. RF (103 kg CO2 only)
- Passengers / year
- 2,043,500
- Aug 2025 – Jul 2026 · +2.0%
- Flights / week
- 297
- Both directions, average
- Seats filled
- 82%
- 2,497,598 seats a year
- Airlines nonstop
- 5
- UA, WN, F9
Traffic: U.S. DOT, Bureau of Transportation Statistics, T-100 Segment (all carriers, scheduled service), Aug 2025 – Jul 2026. Distance: WGS-84 ellipsoid. CO2: UK DESNZ 2026 factors. Sources
The way there
- Heading from DEN
- 246°
- Heading from LAX
- 58°
- Halfway point
- 37.10, -111.81
- Great-circle km
- 1,385 km (sphere, for EU261)
- In the air DEN → LAX
- 2 h
- In the air LAX → DEN
- 1 h 52 min
- Clocks
- Los Angeles is 1 h behind Denver
The estimate for a route without real times is 2 h 25 min; how it is worked out is on Sources.
Show as a table
| Month | Passengers |
|---|---|
| Aug 2025 | 175,379 |
| Sep 2025 | 158,955 |
| Oct 2025 | 173,681 |
| Nov 2025 | 159,242 |
| Dec 2025 | 174,113 |
| Jan 2026 | 154,465 |
| Feb 2026 | 138,004 |
| Mar 2026 | 167,144 |
| Apr 2026 | 163,415 |
| May 2026 | 188,516 |
| Jun 2026 | 196,290 |
| Jul 2026 | 194,296 |
Show as a table
| Month | Flights |
|---|---|
| Aug 2025 | 1,315 |
| Sep 2025 | 1,305 |
| Oct 2025 | 1,371 |
| Nov 2025 | 1,270 |
| Dec 2025 | 1,309 |
| Jan 2026 | 1,221 |
| Feb 2026 | 1,117 |
| Mar 2026 | 1,270 |
| Apr 2026 | 1,267 |
| May 2026 | 1,381 |
| Jun 2026 | 1,297 |
| Jul 2026 | 1,332 |
Airlines flying DEN–LAX nonstop
| Airline | Flights / week | Share of passengers |
|---|---|---|
| UAUnited Air Lines | 119 | 47% |
| WNSouthwest Airlines | 73 | 25% |
| F9Frontier Airlines | 30 | 14% |
| DLDelta Air Lines | 28 | 7% |
| OOSkyWest Airlines | 47 | 7% |
Both directions, Aug 2025 – Jul 2026. Airlines with at least one flight a month. U.S. DOT, Bureau of Transportation Statistics, T-100 Segment (all carriers, scheduled service). Sources
Aircraft on this route
- Airbus Industrie A321-200n · 3,640 flights
- Boeing B737 Max 800 · 1,938 flights
- Embraer ERJ-175 · 1,712 flights
- Boeing 737-800 · 1,620 flights
- Boeing 737-900ER · 1,486 flights
- Airbus Industrie A319 · 1,394 flights
- Boeing 737-700/700LR/Max 7 · 921 flights
- Airbus Industrie A320-200n · 766 flights
Also carried: 2,506 tonnes of freight and 527 tonnes of mail a year (passenger and cargo flights).
Punctuality
- On time
- 80.5%
- Arrived within 15 min of schedule
- Average delay
- 13 min
- Late arrivals count, early ones as 0
- Cancelled
- 0.5%
- Flights counted
- 15,416
- Aug 2025 – Jul 2026
| Airline | On time | Average delay |
|---|---|---|
| UAUnited Air Lines | 86.1% | 9 min |
| WNSouthwest Airlines | 70.9% | 16 min |
| OOSkyWest Airlines | 80.5% | 15 min |
| F9Frontier Airlines | 82% | 15 min |
| DLDelta Air Lines | 80.8% | 19 min |
Delay minutes by cause: airline 38% · aircraft arriving late 39% · air traffic system 20% · weather 2% · security 0%.
Both directions, Aug 2025 – Jul 2026. BTS Reporting Carrier On-Time Performance (US domestic flights of the larger US airlines). Sources
What passengers paid
- Average fare, Q1 2026
- $205
- One way, all cabins
- Average over a year
- $187
- Q2 2025 – Q1 2026
- Largest airline
- United Air Lines
- 42% of passengers · $237
- Lowest-fare airline
- Frontier Airlines
- 18% of passengers · $134
History, not a price to book: what the average passenger paid per one-way trip in each quarter (Q2 2025 $180 · Q3 2025 $178 · Q4 2025 $186 · Q1 2026 $205).
Fare outlook, Q1 2027: about $209, likely $185–$238
The average fare paid we expect a year after Q1 2026, the newest DOT quarter. On this route, past forecasts made this way fell inside the range 76% of the time over 21 quarters (median error 5%). An estimate from US DOT data: not a price you can book, not a guarantee, not advice on when to buy. How the outlook works
Cheapest quarter on this route: Q3, typically 3% below the year's average (9 years of DOT data, without 2020–21).
U.S. DOT Consumer Airfare Report, Table 1a (airline ticket sample, US domestic airport pairs). Sources
Delay compensation (EU261 / UK261)
Measured by great-circle distance: 1,385 km.
Neither EU261 nor UK261 covers this route: it neither starts nor ends in the EU, EEA, Switzerland or the UK. Other countries have their own rules (for example Canada's APPR or Brazil's ANAC rules).
Also owed for a cancellation with less than 14 days' notice or denied boarding. Not owed for extraordinary circumstances. On a connection, the distance to the final destination counts. From 23 October 2027 the EU's Regulation 2026/2202 applies; it keeps these amounts (what changes in 2027). Information, not legal advice.
Every airport pair between Denver and Los Angeles
Kilometres. Linked numbers have a page of their own. All Denver airports