---
title: "Dubai to Johannesburg (DXB → JNB): distance and flight time · Orbit"
description: "Dubai to Johannesburg is 6,413 km (3,985 mi) great circle, an estimated 8h 28m in the air. The route, what it flies over, and why the short way is not the straight line on a map."
url: https://orbitflights.app/routes/dxb-to-jnb
---

DXB → JNB

# Dubai to Johannesburg: distance, flight time and the route it really takes

Dubai to O.R. Tambo is 6,413 km of great circle — 3,985 mi — and an estimated 8h 28m in the air. It crosses from Asia to Africa.

**Great circle**
6,413 km
3,985 mi

**Estimated in the air**
8h 28m
block time

**Furthest from equator**
26.1°S
at 100% along

**One lap of Earth**
16.0%
of 40,075 km

Of the [292 routes catalogued here](https://orbitflights.app/routes), this is the 102nd longest.

The Dubai to Johannesburg route drawn as a great circle arc on a globe

## What the aircraft actually flies over

From Dubai the path crosses United Arab Emirates, then Saudi Arabia, then Yemen, then 417 km of open water, then Somaliland, then Ethiopia, then Somalia, then 561 km of open water, then Tanzania, then Mozambique, then Zimbabwe, then South Africa.

The furthest the great circle gets from the equator is 26.1°S, 100% of the way along.

Holding a single compass bearing the whole way would cover almost exactly the same ground, so on this route the flat map and the globe agree.

It arrives on almost the heading it left on — south-west at both ends. The two airports sit at nearly mirrored latitudes, so the arc climbs away from the equator and falls back to it by the same amount, and the compass ends up where it started.

One economy seat on it is about 908 kg of CO₂e each way, counting non-CO₂ warming.

[DXB–JNB carbon footprint →](https://orbitflights.app/tools/flight-carbon-calculator?from=DXB&to=JNB) [Map this route →](https://orbitflights.app/tools/flight-route-map?r=DXB-JNB)

From

DXB

## Dubai

Dubai, United Arab Emirates · Asia

25.2°N, 55.4°E

[DXB airport →](https://orbitflights.app/airports/dxb) [Flights to Dubai →](https://orbitflights.app/flights-to/dubai)

To

JNB

## O.R. Tambo

Johannesburg, South Africa · Africa

26.1°S, 28.2°E

[JNB airport →](https://orbitflights.app/airports/jnb) [Flights to Johannesburg →](https://orbitflights.app/flights-to/johannesburg)

## Dubai to Johannesburg, asked and answered

**How far is Dubai to Johannesburg?**
Dubai to Johannesburg (DXB to JNB) is 6,413 km, or 3,985 mi, measured as great circle distance between the two airports.

**How long is the flight from Dubai to Johannesburg?**
About 8h 28m in the air. That is an estimate from the distance at a typical airliner block speed, plus half an hour for taxi, climb and descent; published schedules vary with winds and routing.

**What route does a Dubai to Johannesburg flight take?**
The great circle passes over United Arab Emirates, then Saudi Arabia, then Yemen, then 417 km of open water, then Somaliland, then Ethiopia, then Somalia, then 561 km of open water, then Tanzania, then Mozambique, then Zimbabwe, then South Africa. It reaches 26.1°S at its furthest from the equator.

## Where these numbers come from

Distances are computed from the two airports’ own coordinates, not looked up from published routes. Times are estimates, not schedules.

[Why the shortest path is a curve →](https://orbitflights.app/blog/great-circle-routes-explained)

## Flown this one?

Orbit logs it in two taps and draws the arc on your own globe, along with every other flight you can remember. Free for your first 15.

[Download now](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.qwertybit.orbit)

## Nearby routes

[DXB → MNL Dubai to Manila 6,905 km](https://orbitflights.app/routes/dxb-to-mnl) [DXB → SIN Dubai to Singapore 5,846 km](https://orbitflights.app/routes/dxb-to-sin) [MAD → DXB Madrid to Dubai 5,650 km](https://orbitflights.app/routes/mad-to-dxb) [LHR → DXB London to Dubai 5,498 km](https://orbitflights.app/routes/lhr-to-dxb) [IST → JNB Istanbul to Johannesburg 7,496 km](https://orbitflights.app/routes/ist-to-jnb) [CDG → DXB Paris to Dubai 5,239 km](https://orbitflights.app/routes/cdg-to-dxb)

## Further reading

[How many miles do you have to fly around the world?](https://orbitflights.app/blog/how-many-miles-to-fly-around-the-world) [What is on the exact opposite side of the world?](https://orbitflights.app/blog/opposite-side-of-the-world) [What's actually worth counting in a flight log](https://orbitflights.app/blog/what-is-worth-counting-in-a-flight-log)

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Markdown copy of https://orbitflights.app/routes/dxb-to-jnb for language models and agents. Site index: https://orbitflights.app/llms.txt