Flight

Flight distance calculator

The distance between any two airports over the Earth's surface, in kilometers, miles and nautical miles, with the heading and a map of the route.

Los Angeles International Airport, LAX
Tokyo Haneda International Airport, HND
Flight distance8,812 km5,476 miles · 4,758 nautical miles
Heading out
306° NW
Heading in
236° SW
Halfway point
47.72° N, 168.62° W
Flight time
About 11h 7m. Arrival time

Focus for 11h 7m. In Flight, this trip is a focus timer: your plane leaves Los Angeles when you start and lands in Tokyo when the time is up.

Fly this route

The great circle

The shortest path between two points on a globe is an arc of a great circle: a circle around the Earth whose center is the Earth's center. Airliners follow it as closely as winds and airways allow, which is why Los Angeles to Tokyo (8,812 km) heads out NW and curves up to 48° N on the way, though Tokyo is barely further north than Los Angeles.

This calculator finds that distance with the haversine formula, using the Earth's mean radius of 6,371 km. Against the Earth's true, slightly flattened shape, it's within about half a percent.

Kilometers, miles or nautical miles

  • Kilometers and miles are what most travelers use. A mile is 1.609 km.
  • Nautical miles are aviation's unit: 1.852 km, one minute of latitude. Pilots, air traffic control and flight plans all use them.

Distances between major cities

RouteKilometersMiles
Los Angeles (LAX) to Tokyo (HND)8,8125,476
New York (JFK) to London (LHR)5,5403,442
London (LHR) to Singapore (SIN)10,8836,762
Singapore (SIN) to New York (JFK)15,3419,532
Dubai (DXB) to Sydney (SYD)12,0437,483
New York (JFK) to Los Angeles (LAX)3,9742,469
New Delhi (DEL) to London (LHR)6,7314,183
São Paulo (GRU) to Madrid (MAD)8,3785,206
Paris (CDG) to Tokyo (HND)9,7086,032
Johannesburg (JNB) to London (LHR)9,0755,639

Questions

How is the flight distance calculated?

As the great-circle distance between the two airports' coordinates: the shortest path over the Earth's surface, worked out with the haversine formula on a sphere of the Earth's mean radius, 6,371 km. That's within about half a percent of the exact figure on the Earth's slightly squashed shape.

Is that the distance the plane actually flies?

A little less. Planes follow airways, departure and arrival procedures and the best winds of the day, so the distance flown is usually a few percent longer than the great circle, and more on routes that detour around closed airspace.

What's the difference between a mile and a nautical mile?

A mile (statute mile) is 1.609 km. A nautical mile is 1.852 km, one minute of latitude, and it's what pilots, air traffic control and ships use. Speeds in nautical miles per hour are knots.

Why do flight paths look curved on a map?

Because flat maps stretch the globe. The great circle is the straight line on a globe, but on a flat map it bends toward the nearer pole, which is why flights from North America to Europe or Asia arc up toward the Arctic.

What does the heading mean?

It's the compass direction the great circle starts out on, and the one it arrives on. On long routes it changes along the way: New York to London leaves heading NE and arrives heading ESE.

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