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Flight Time Between Cities

TravelFlights and Air Travel
Route
Locate by
Flight assumptions

Jets average about 800–900 km/h over a long trip; turboprops about 450–550.

Estimated flight time —
Great-circle distance (km)
—
Great-circle distance (mi)
—
Time at average speed
—
Total in decimal hours
—

Flight time is roughly the great-circle distance divided by the aircraft's average speed, plus about 30 minutes for taxi, climb and approach. A quarter of the equator, 10,008 km, at 850 km/h takes 11 h 46 min in the air, so about 12 h 16 min gate to gate in still air.

About this tool

Planning a connection, comparing two routings or sanity-checking an itinerary usually starts with one question: how long is the flight likely to be? This calculator picks from 28 major airports or takes any pair of latitude and longitude values, measures the shortest path over the Earth's surface, and converts it into time using an average speed you set and a fixed allowance for ground and terminal-area time. It shows the distance in kilometres and miles, the time at speed, and the total in hours and minutes, with the working laid out line by line. The figure is a still-air estimate: real schedules shift by 30 minutes or more with prevailing winds, routing around airspace and airport congestion, so an airline timetable remains the reference for a specific flight number.

How to use it

  1. Choose how to locate the route

    Pick Major cities to choose from the airport list, or Coordinates to type decimal latitude and longitude for any two places.

  2. Set the endpoints

    Select departure and arrival cities, or enter the four coordinates, with south latitudes and west longitudes as negative numbers.

  3. Tune the average speed

    Drag the slider or type a value. 850 km/h suits most jets on long routes; use 450–550 km/h for regional turboprops.

  4. Adjust the allowance

    Use the stepper to change the minutes added for taxiing, climbing and approach. Busy hubs often need 40 minutes or more.

Examples

0°, 0° to 0°, 90°E

Locate by
Coordinates
Departure latitude
0
Departure longitude
0
Arrival latitude
0
Arrival longitude
90
Average block speed
850
Taxi, climb and approach allowance
30

Result Estimated flight time: 12 h 16 min
Great-circle distance (km): 10,008
Great-circle distance (mi): 6,218
Time at average speed: 11 h 46 min
Total in decimal hours: 12.27

  1. Route: Point A (0, 0) to Point B (0, 90)
  2. Great-circle distance = 2 × 6371 × asin(√0.5) = 10007.5 km
  3. Time in the air = 10007.5 ÷ 850 km/h = 706.4 min
  4. Total = 706.4 + 30 min allowance = 12 h 16 min

A quarter of the way round the equator is about 10,008 km, close to the longest nonstop flights in service today.

London Heathrow to New York JFK

Locate by
Major cities
From
London (LHR)
To
New York (JFK)
Average block speed
850
Taxi, climb and approach allowance
30

Result Estimated flight time: 7 h 1 min
Great-circle distance (km): 5,540
Great-circle distance (mi): 3,443
Time at average speed: 6 h 31 min
Total in decimal hours: 7.02

  1. Route: London (LHR) (51.47, -0.454) to New York (JFK) (40.64, -73.78)
  2. Great-circle distance = 2 × 6371 × asin(√0.177435) = 5540.2 km
  3. Time in the air = 5540.2 ÷ 850 km/h = 391.1 min
  4. Total = 391.1 + 30 min allowance = 7 h 1 min

About 5,550 km on the great circle. Westbound flights into the jet stream are scheduled near 8 hours, so treat the estimate as a still-air figure.

Dubai to Doha at 600 km/h

Locate by
Major cities
From
Dubai (DXB)
To
Doha (DOH)
Average block speed
600
Taxi, climb and approach allowance
30

Result Estimated flight time: 1 h 8 min
Great-circle distance (km): 377
Great-circle distance (mi): 234
Time at average speed: 0 h 38 min
Total in decimal hours: 1.13

  1. Route: Dubai (DXB) (25.25, 55.36) to Doha (DOH) (25.27, 51.61)
  2. Great-circle distance = 2 × 6371 × asin(√0.000876) = 377.1 km
  3. Time in the air = 377.1 ÷ 600 km/h = 37.7 min
  4. Total = 37.7 + 30 min allowance = 1 h 8 min

A short Gulf hop where the fixed ground and climb allowance makes up a large share of the total.

How it is calculated

d = 2R · asin(√(sin²(Δφ/2) + cos φ1 · cos φ2 · sin²(Δλ/2))); t = d ÷ v + a

d
great-circle distance in km
R
mean Earth radius, 6,371 km
φ1, φ2, Δφ, Δλ
latitudes, latitude difference and longitude difference in radians
v
average block speed in km/h
a
fixed taxi, climb and approach allowance

The haversine formula gives the shortest distance between two points on a sphere, which is the path long-haul aircraft approximate. Treating the Earth as a sphere rather than an ellipsoid changes distances by under 0.5%. Distance over average speed gives time in the air; the allowance covers the slower phases that a cruise speed does not capture. Winds aloft are not modelled, so eastbound and westbound legs come out equal.

When not to use it

  • Do not use it in place of the published schedule when booking a tight connection.
  • It is not a flight-planning tool for pilots, since it ignores winds, airways and fuel stops.
  • Routes that must detour around closed airspace will run longer than the great-circle figure.

Common mistakes

  • Entering western longitudes as positive numbers, which puts the city on the wrong side of the globe.
  • Using the cruise Mach speed of the aircraft instead of a lower average that includes climb and descent.
  • Comparing the estimate with timetable times without converting between the two local time zones.

Frequently asked questions

Why does my flight take longer westbound than eastbound?

In the mid-latitudes the jet stream blows from west to east at 100–250 km/h. Eastbound flights ride it and westbound flights fight it, so London to New York is often scheduled about an hour longer than the return. This calculator assumes still air, so its answer sits between the two directions.

What average speed should I enter for a jet?

Airliners cruise near 900 km/h, but the climb and descent are slower, so a trip average of 800–870 km/h works for most long routes. On sectors under 1,000 km the average falls further because a large share of the flight is spent climbing and descending.

Why is the great-circle route curved on a flat map?

Flat maps stretch the high latitudes, so the shortest path on the globe appears as an arc bending toward the pole. Flights from Europe to the US West Coast pass over Greenland for that reason, even though it looks like a detour on a Mercator chart.

Does the result include time zone changes?

No. The result is elapsed time from gate to gate. To get the local arrival time, add it to the departure time and then convert from the departure zone to the arrival zone, which can move the clock by up to 14 hours.

How close is the estimate to airline schedules?

For long-haul jets with the default 850 km/h and 30 minutes, the still-air figure usually lands within 30–45 minutes of the timetable. Airlines also pad schedules for congestion at hubs, so published times tend to be a little longer than the estimate.

Can I use it for a city that is not in the list?

Yes. Switch to Coordinates and enter the airport's latitude and longitude in decimal degrees, which you can read from any map service. Use negative values for southern latitudes and western longitudes.

Cite this tool

Using this tool in an assignment, article or report? Copy a citation, or a link for your website.

APA

Tools Directory Editorial Team. (2026, October 19). Flight Time Between Cities. Tools Directory. Retrieved October 26, 2026, from https://tools.milunir.com/travel/flights-and-air-travel/flight-time-between-cities/

MLA

Tools Directory Editorial Team. “Flight Time Between Cities.” Tools Directory, 19 Oct. 2026, https://tools.milunir.com/travel/flights-and-air-travel/flight-time-between-cities/. Accessed 26 Oct. 2026.

Chicago

Tools Directory Editorial Team. “Flight Time Between Cities.” Tools Directory. Last modified October 19, 2026. Accessed October 26, 2026. https://tools.milunir.com/travel/flights-and-air-travel/flight-time-between-cities/.

Link<a href="https://tools.milunir.com/travel/flights-and-air-travel/flight-time-between-cities/">Flight Time Between Cities – Tools Directory</a>