- Great circle
- 12,970 km
- 8,059 mi
- Estimated in the air
- 16h 37m
- block time
- Furthest from equator
- 84.0°N
- at 42% along
- One lap of Earth
- 32.4%
- of 40,075 km
What the aircraft actually flies over
From New York the path crosses the United States, then Canada, then 681 km of open water, then Canada, then 3,243 km of open water, then Russia, then China.
The great circle reaches 84.0°N, inside the Arctic circle — which is why the route looks like a detour over the top of the world on a flat map, and like the obvious line on a globe.
Flying the line that looks straight on a Mercator map — one constant compass bearing — would cover 16,345 km. That is 3,375 km further, about 26% more, and roughly 4h 12m of extra flying.
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.
Flown this one?
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