Denver (DEN) – San Francisco (SFO)
- Distance
- 1,556 km
- 967 mi · 840 nm
- Flight time
- 2 h 43 min / 2 h 33 min
- Average gate to gate: DEN → SFO / back
- Time difference
- 1 h
- CO2 per passenger
- 195 kg
- One way, economy, incl. RF (115 kg CO2 only)
- Passengers / year
- 1,743,354
- Aug 2025 – Jul 2026 · −2.8%
- Flights / week
- 212
- Both directions, average
- Seats filled
- 84%
- 2,086,432 seats a year
- Airlines nonstop
- 4
- 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
- 266°
- Heading from SFO
- 75°
- Halfway point
- 39.08, -113.66
- Great-circle km
- 1,553 km (sphere, for EU261)
- In the air DEN → SFO
- 2 h 14 min
- In the air SFO → DEN
- 2 h 2 min
- Clocks
- San Francisco is 1 h behind Denver
The estimate for a route without real times is 2 h 40 min; how it is worked out is on Sources.
Show as a table
| Month | Passengers |
|---|---|
| Aug 2025 | 157,829 |
| Sep 2025 | 144,561 |
| Oct 2025 | 151,668 |
| Nov 2025 | 136,316 |
| Dec 2025 | 146,203 |
| Jan 2026 | 128,630 |
| Feb 2026 | 118,775 |
| Mar 2026 | 147,089 |
| Apr 2026 | 134,215 |
| May 2026 | 157,108 |
| Jun 2026 | 162,750 |
| Jul 2026 | 158,210 |
Show as a table
| Month | Flights |
|---|---|
| Aug 2025 | 928 |
| Sep 2025 | 907 |
| Oct 2025 | 927 |
| Nov 2025 | 871 |
| Dec 2025 | 926 |
| Jan 2026 | 888 |
| Feb 2026 | 805 |
| Mar 2026 | 899 |
| Apr 2026 | 852 |
| May 2026 | 973 |
| Jun 2026 | 997 |
| Jul 2026 | 1,034 |
Airlines flying DEN–SFO nonstop
| Airline | Flights / week | Share of passengers |
|---|---|---|
| UAUnited Air Lines | 132 | 66% |
| WNSouthwest Airlines | 54 | 22% |
| F9Frontier Airlines | 24 | 12% |
| OOSkyWest Airlines | 1.3 | 0% |
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 · 3,118 flights
- Boeing B737 Max 800 · 1,651 flights
- Boeing 737-800 · 1,122 flights
- Boeing 757-300 · 1,068 flights
- Boeing 737-900ER · 845 flights
- Airbus Industrie A320-200n · 840 flights
- Boeing 737-700/700LR/Max 7 · 816 flights
- Boeing B737 Max 900 · 814 flights
Also carried: 1,652 tonnes of freight and 420 tonnes of mail a year (passenger and cargo flights).
Punctuality
- On time
- 69.9%
- Arrived within 15 min of schedule
- Average delay
- 19 min
- Late arrivals count, early ones as 0
- Cancelled
- 0.4%
- Flights counted
- 10,926
- Aug 2025 – Jul 2026
| Airline | On time | Average delay |
|---|---|---|
| UAUnited Air Lines | 76.3% | 15 min |
| WNSouthwest Airlines | 55.5% | 28 min |
| F9Frontier Airlines | 67.6% | 20 min |
Delay minutes by cause: airline 22% · aircraft arriving late 40% · air traffic system 37% · weather 1% · 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
- $253
- One way, all cabins
- Average over a year
- $234
- Q2 2025 – Q1 2026
- Largest airline
- United Air Lines
- 67% of passengers · $291
- Lowest-fare airline
- Frontier Airlines
- 15% of passengers · $140
History, not a price to book: what the average passenger paid per one-way trip in each quarter (Q2 2025 $220 · Q3 2025 $225 · Q4 2025 $241 · Q1 2026 $253).
Fare outlook, Q1 2027: about $258, likely $229–$294
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 81% of the time over 21 quarters (median error 4.3%). 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: 1,553 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 San Francisco
Kilometres. Linked numbers have a page of their own. All Denver airports