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Flight distance calculator: how far is it between any two airports?

Great circle distance in kilometres and miles, an estimate of the time in the air, and the route drawn as an arc on a globe — where, correctly, the short way looks straight.

Great circle
5,540 km
3,442 mi
Estimated in the air
7h 23m
block time
One lap of Earth
13.8%
40,075 km
Straight-line map error
219 km
extra, on one bearing
Read the full write-up for London – New York →
The London to New York route drawn as a great circle arc on a globe.

Distances people look up most

Each of these has a page of its own, with the route drawn on a globe and what it flies over on the way.

São Paulo to Singapore15,995 kmSingapore to New York15,341 kmSingapore to Newark15,337 kmPerth to London14,508 kmPerth to Paris14,272 kmAuckland to New York14,215 kmDubai to Auckland14,199 kmLos Angeles to Singapore14,102 kmSingapore to Los Angeles14,102 kmHouston to Sydney13,836 kmDallas-Fort Worth to Sydney13,808 kmSydney to Dallas-Fort Worth13,808 kmManila to New York13,696 kmSan Francisco to Singapore13,582 kmNew York to Hong Kong12,970 kmHong Kong to New York12,970 kmLos Angeles to Melbourne12,758 kmMelbourne to Los Angeles12,758 kmVancouver to Sydney12,501 kmLos Angeles to Sydney12,061 kmBuenos Aires to Sydney11,767 kmLos Angeles to Hong Kong11,664 kmSantiago to Sydney11,340 kmNew York to Seoul11,089 kmLondon to Singapore10,883 kmNew York to Tokyo10,830 kmParis to Singapore10,724 kmLondon to Kuala Lumpur10,605 kmAmsterdam to Singapore10,514 kmLos Angeles to Auckland10,487 km

All 292 routes →

What this measures, and what it doesn’t

How is flight distance calculated?

As great circle distance — the shortest path over the surface of a sphere, computed from the two airports' coordinates with the haversine formula. It is the measure airlines and frequent-flyer programmes use, and it is not the same as the straight line between two points on a flat map.

Why is the distance different from what my airline says?

Aircraft do not fly perfect great circles. Jet streams, airspace restrictions, ETOPS diversion rules and air traffic control routing all bend the path, usually by a few percent. Great circle distance is the reproducible baseline; the flown track is a little longer.

How accurate is the flying time?

It is an estimate, not a schedule. It assumes a typical airliner block speed of 500 mph plus thirty minutes for taxi, climb and descent — the same arithmetic Orbit uses when you log a flight without timestamps. Real schedules vary with winds and routing, and an eastbound transatlantic flight is reliably shorter than the same route westbound.

How many airports can I search?

All 8,801 — the same table the Orbit app ships. Search by IATA code, ICAO code, city or airport name. The table is fetched when you first touch a field rather than on page load, so it costs nothing to read this page.

Is this the distance between the cities or the airports?

Between the airports, measured from their published reference coordinates. That is the number airlines and loyalty programmes use, and it is not the same as city-centre to city-centre — Paris Charles de Gaulle sits 25 km outside Paris, so an airport-to-airport figure can differ from a city-to-city one by more than the length of a short flight.

Can I get the distance in nautical miles?

The figures here are kilometres and statute miles, which is what logbooks and frequent-flyer schemes count in. For nautical miles, divide the kilometres by 1.852 — a nautical mile is one minute of latitude, which is why it is the unit aviation navigates in and the wrong unit for counting how far you have travelled.

Browse 292 routes with the full write-up →

Do this for every flight you’ve ever taken.

Orbit adds them up — distance, hours, countries and continents — and draws the lot on a globe you can spin. Offline, from 8,801 airports.

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