- Great circle
- 13,696 km
- 8,510 mi
- Estimated in the air
- 17h 31m
- block time
- Furthest from equator
- 77.0°N
- at 61% along
- One lap of Earth
- 34.2%
- of 40,075 km
What the aircraft actually flies over
From Manila the path crosses Philippines, then 1,849 km of open water, then South Korea, then North Korea, then China, then Russia, then 2,876 km of open water, then Canada, then 1,507 km of open water, then Canada, then the United States.
The great circle reaches 77.0°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 16,323 km. That is 2,628 km further, about 19% more, and roughly 3h 16m of extra flying.
MNL
Ninoy Aquino
Manila, Philippines · Asia
14.5°N, 121.0°E
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.
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