- Great circle
- 3,857 km
- 2,397 mi
- Estimated in the air
- 5h 18m
- block time
- Furthest from equator
- 37.6°N
- at 0% along
- One lap of Earth
- 9.6%
- of 40,075 km
Of the 292 routes catalogued here, this is the 153rd longest.
What the aircraft actually flies over
From San Francisco the path crosses 3,819 km of open water.
The furthest the great circle gets from the equator is 37.6°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 San Francisco the aircraft points west (252°); it arrives into Honolulu heading south-west (234°). That is 18° of drift without a single turn — the compass moves because the path is a curve on a sphere, not because the aircraft does.
SFO
San Francisco
San Francisco, United States · North America
37.6°N, 122.4°W
HNL
Daniel K. Inouye
Honolulu, United States · Oceania
21.3°N, 157.9°W
San Francisco to Honolulu, asked and answered
- How far is San Francisco to Honolulu?
- San Francisco to Honolulu (SFO to HNL) is 3,857 km, or 2,397 mi, measured as great circle distance between the two airports.
- How long is the flight from San Francisco to Honolulu?
- About 5h 18m 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 San Francisco to Honolulu flight take?
- The great circle passes over 3,819 km of open water. It reaches 37.6°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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