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PTY → SJO

Panama City to San José: distance, flight time and the route it really takes

Tocumen to Juan Santamaría is 539 km of great circle — 335 mi — and an estimated 1h 10m in the air. Both ends are in North America.

Great circle
539 km
335 mi
Estimated in the air
1h 10m
block time
Furthest from equator
10.0°N
at 100% along
One lap of Earth
1.3%
of 40,075 km

Of the 292 routes catalogued here, this is the 280th longest.

The Panama City to San José route drawn as a great circle arc on a globe

What the aircraft actually flies over

From Panama City the path crosses Panama, then 283 km of open water, then Costa Rica.

The furthest the great circle gets from the equator is 10.0°N, 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.

The heading barely moves: west out of Panama City, west into San José. Over this distance the curve has too little room to bend the compass.

From

PTY

Tocumen

Panama City, Panama · North America

9.1°N, 79.4°W

To

SJO

Juan Santamaría

San José, Costa Rica · North America

10.0°N, 84.2°W

Panama City to San José, asked and answered

How far is Panama City to San José?
Panama City to San José (PTY to SJO) is 539 km, or 335 mi, measured as great circle distance between the two airports.
How long is the flight from Panama City to San José?
About 1h 10m 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 Panama City to San José flight take?
The great circle passes over Panama, then 283 km of open water, then Costa Rica. It reaches 10.0°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.

Why the shortest path is a curve →

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