---
title: "Honolulu to Sydney (HNL → SYD): distance and flight time · Orbit"
description: "Honolulu to Sydney is 8,170 km (5,077 mi) great circle, an estimated 10h 39m 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/hnl-to-syd
---

HNL → SYD

# Honolulu to Sydney: distance, flight time and the route it really takes

Daniel K. Inouye to Sydney Kingsford Smith is 8,170 km of great circle — 5,077 mi — and an estimated 10h 39m in the air. Both ends are in Oceania.

**Great circle**
8,170 km
5,077 mi

**Estimated in the air**
10h 39m
block time

**Furthest from equator**
33.9°S
at 100% along

**One lap of Earth**
20.4%
of 40,075 km

Of the [292 routes catalogued here](https://orbitflights.app/routes), this is the 77th longest.

The Honolulu to Sydney route drawn as a great circle arc on a globe

## What the aircraft actually flies over

From Honolulu the path crosses 8,068 km of open water.

The furthest the great circle gets from the equator is 33.9°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.

Leaving Honolulu the aircraft points south-west (222°); it arrives into Sydney heading south-west (229°). That is 7° of drift without a single turn — the compass moves because the path is a curve on a sphere, not because the aircraft does.

One economy seat on it is about 1.16 t of CO₂e each way, counting non-CO₂ warming.

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

From

HNL

## Daniel K. Inouye

Honolulu, United States · Oceania

21.3°N, 157.9°W

[HNL airport →](https://orbitflights.app/airports/hnl) [Flights to Honolulu →](https://orbitflights.app/flights-to/honolulu)

To

SYD

## Sydney Kingsford Smith

Sydney, Australia · Oceania

33.9°S, 151.2°E

[SYD airport →](https://orbitflights.app/airports/syd) [Flights to Sydney →](https://orbitflights.app/flights-to/sydney)

## Honolulu to Sydney, asked and answered

**How far is Honolulu to Sydney?**
Honolulu to Sydney (HNL to SYD) is 8,170 km, or 5,077 mi, measured as great circle distance between the two airports.

**How long is the flight from Honolulu to Sydney?**
About 10h 39m 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 Honolulu to Sydney flight take?**
The great circle passes over 8,068 km of open water. It reaches 33.9°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

[SYD → HND Sydney to Tokyo 7,818 km](https://orbitflights.app/routes/syd-to-hnd) [SYD → SIN Sydney to Singapore 6,293 km](https://orbitflights.app/routes/syd-to-sin) [HNL → HND Honolulu to Tokyo 6,191 km](https://orbitflights.app/routes/hnl-to-hnd) [SCL → SYD Santiago to Sydney 11,340 km](https://orbitflights.app/routes/scl-to-syd) [SYD → DPS Sydney to Bali 4,622 km](https://orbitflights.app/routes/syd-to-dps) [EZE → SYD Buenos Aires to Sydney 11,767 km](https://orbitflights.app/routes/eze-to-syd)

## 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/hnl-to-syd for language models and agents. Site index: https://orbitflights.app/llms.txt