---
title: "Seattle to Honolulu (SEA → HNL): distance and flight time · Orbit"
description: "Seattle to Honolulu is 4,308 km (2,677 mi) great circle, an estimated 5h 51m 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/sea-to-hnl
---

SEA → HNL

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

Seattle–Tacoma to Daniel K. Inouye is 4,308 km of great circle — 2,677 mi — and an estimated 5h 51m in the air. It crosses from North America to Oceania.

**Great circle**
4,308 km
2,677 mi

**Estimated in the air**
5h 51m
block time

**Furthest from equator**
47.4°N
at 0% along

**One lap of Earth**
10.7%
of 40,075 km

Of the [292 routes catalogued here](https://orbitflights.app/routes), this is the 140th longest.

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

## What the aircraft actually flies over

From Seattle the path crosses 4,125 km of open water.

The furthest the great circle gets from the equator is 47.4°N, 0% 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 Seattle the aircraft points south-west (240°); it arrives into Honolulu heading south-west (219°). That is 21° 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 610 kg of CO₂e each way, counting non-CO₂ warming.

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

From

SEA

## Seattle–Tacoma

Seattle, United States · North America

47.4°N, 122.3°W

[SEA airport →](https://orbitflights.app/airports/sea) [Flights to Seattle →](https://orbitflights.app/flights-to/seattle)

To

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)

## Seattle to Honolulu, asked and answered

**How far is Seattle to Honolulu?**
Seattle to Honolulu (SEA to HNL) is 4,308 km, or 2,677 mi, measured as great circle distance between the two airports.

**How long is the flight from Seattle to Honolulu?**
About 5h 51m 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 Seattle to Honolulu flight take?**
The great circle passes over 4,125 km of open water. It reaches 47.4°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 →](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

[LAX → HNL Los Angeles to Honolulu 4,108 km](https://orbitflights.app/routes/lax-to-hnl) [JFK → SEA New York to Seattle 3,887 km](https://orbitflights.app/routes/jfk-to-sea) [SFO → HNL San Francisco to Honolulu 3,857 km](https://orbitflights.app/routes/sfo-to-hnl) [HNL → HND Honolulu to Tokyo 6,191 km](https://orbitflights.app/routes/hnl-to-hnd) [LAX → SEA Los Angeles to Seattle 1,537 km](https://orbitflights.app/routes/lax-to-sea) [LHR → SEA London to Seattle 7,702 km](https://orbitflights.app/routes/lhr-to-sea)

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