- Great circle
- 5,760 km
- 3,579 mi
- Estimated in the air
- 7h 40m
- block time
- Furthest from equator
- 46.3°N
- at 50% along
- One lap of Earth
- 14.4%
- of 40,075 km
Of the 292 routes catalogued here, this is the 114th longest.
What the aircraft actually flies over
From Madrid the path crosses Spain, then 4,911 km of open water, then the United States.
The furthest the great circle gets from the equator is 46.3°N, 50% of the way along.
Flying the line that looks straight on a Mercator map — one constant compass bearing — would cover 5,930 km. That is 170 km further, about 3% more, and roughly 13m of extra flying.
Leaving Madrid the aircraft points north-west (295°); it arrives into New York heading south-west (246°). That is 49° of drift without a single turn — the compass moves because the path is a curve on a sphere, not because the aircraft does.
MAD
Adolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas
Madrid, Spain · Europe
40.5°N, 3.6°W
JFK
John F. Kennedy
New York, United States · North America
40.6°N, 73.8°W
Madrid to New York, asked and answered
- How far is Madrid to New York?
- Madrid to New York (MAD to JFK) is 5,760 km, or 3,579 mi, measured as great circle distance between the two airports.
- How long is the flight from Madrid to New York?
- About 7h 40m 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 Madrid to New York flight take?
- The great circle passes over Spain, then 4,911 km of open water, then the United States. It reaches 46.3°N 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.
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