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CPH → KEF

Copenhagen to Reykjavík: distance, flight time and the route it really takes

Copenhagen Kastrup to Keflavik is 2,144 km of great circle — 1,332 mi — and an estimated 3h 10m in the air. Both ends are in Europe.

Great circle
2,144 km
1,332 mi
Estimated in the air
3h 10m
block time
Furthest from equator
64.0°N
at 100% along
One lap of Earth
5.3%
of 40,075 km
The Copenhagen to Reykjavík route drawn as a great circle arc on a globe

What the aircraft actually flies over

From Copenhagen the path crosses 1,645 km of open water, then Iceland.

The furthest the great circle gets from the equator is 64.0°N, 100% of the way along.

Flying the line that looks straight on a Mercator map — one constant compass bearing — would cover 2,170 km. That is 26 km further, about 1% more, and roughly 2m of extra flying.

From

CPH

Copenhagen Kastrup

Copenhagen, Denmark · Europe

55.6°N, 12.7°E

To

KEF

Keflavik

Reykjavík, Iceland · Europe

64.0°N, 22.6°W

How these numbers are worked out

The distance is the great circle between the two airports’ real coordinates — the shortest path over a sphere, and the measure airlines and loyalty programmes use. It is computed, not looked up from a table of published routes.

The time is an estimate derived from that distance, using the same arithmetic Orbit uses when you log a flight without timestamps: a typical airliner block speed of 500 mph plus thirty minutes for taxi, climb and descent. Real schedules run longer or shorter depending on winds, air traffic control routing and how far the gate is from the runway. Aircraft also do not fly perfect great circles — jet streams, airspace closures and ETOPS limits all bend the path, usually by a few percent.

Why the shortest path is a curve →

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