To estimate flight time from distance, divide the distance by the aircraft’s average speed, then add 30 to 45 minutes for taxiing, climb and descent. For a wide-body jet at about 820 km/h on a 5,570 km route, that is 6 hours 48 minutes in the air plus 30 minutes, giving an estimate of about 7 hours 18 minutes. It is a planning figure, not a timetable, because winds, routing and air traffic all change real flights.
Note: this is general information and the figures are estimates. Scheduled flight times, delays and your own check-in requirements are set by the airline and airport, so always use your booking details for anything that matters.
The basic formula
Flight time is distance divided by speed, which is the same relationship as any journey. The only complication for flying is that the aeroplane does not fly at its cruising speed for the whole trip. It spends time on the ground, accelerating and climbing, and then descending and approaching the runway, so the average speed over the journey is lower than the cruising speed.
A practical estimate has two parts:
- Cruise time = distance ÷ cruising speed
- Add a fixed allowance for taxi, take-off, climb, descent and landing
For a jet airliner, a reasonable cruising speed is roughly 800 to 900 km/h. The House of Calculator estimator uses three starting points: about 820 km/h for a wide-body jet, 750 km/h for a narrow-body jet, and 470 km/h for a turboprop. The fixed allowance in the tool defaults to 30 minutes and you can change it.
Written as a formula, with distance in kilometres and speed in kilometres per hour:
Flight time in hours = (distance ÷ speed) + (allowance in minutes ÷ 60)
To convert a decimal number of hours into hours and minutes, multiply the decimal part by 60. For example, 6.793 hours is 6 hours and 0.793 × 60, which is 47.6, so about 48 minutes.
Worked example: a long-haul flight of 5,570 km
A route of about 5,570 km, which is roughly the distance between London and New York in a straight line, is a good example of a long-haul trip. The calculation, using the estimator, goes like this:
- Cruise time at 820 km/h: 5,570 ÷ 820 = 6.79 hours, or 6 hours 48 minutes
- Add 30 minutes for the ground and climb allowance: 7 hours 18 minutes
The same distance in other units shows how the figures translate. 5,570 km is about 3,461 miles or 3,008 nautical miles. Entering any of the three gives the same answer, apart from rounding. Conversions to remember are that 1 mile is 1.609 km and 1 nautical mile is 1.852 km, and aviation commonly uses nautical miles and knots (nautical miles per hour).
If the same journey were flown at a narrow-body speed of 750 km/h, the estimate rises to 7 hours 56 minutes. That is the sort of difference you see when an airline uses a smaller aircraft on a long route.
Examples by distance and aircraft type
Distances are great-circle distances, which is the shortest path along the surface of the earth, and are approximate. Check the exact figure for your route with a mapping tool. The times below come from the estimator with its default 30-minute allowance.
| Route type | Distance | Aircraft | Estimated time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Short domestic hop, such as London to Edinburgh (roughly) | 535 km | Turboprop, 470 km/h | 1 h 38 min |
| The same route | 535 km | Narrow-body jet, 750 km/h | 1 h 13 min |
| Short European flight, such as London to Madrid (roughly) | 1,260 km | Narrow-body jet, 750 km/h | 2 h 11 min |
| Transatlantic, such as London to New York (roughly) | 5,570 km | Wide-body jet, 820 km/h | 7 h 18 min |
| Very long route | 12,000 km | Wide-body jet, 820 km/h | 15 h 8 min |
On the short domestic route, the turboprop takes about 25 minutes longer than the jet, though in practice the difference for the passenger depends on airports and boarding. On the very long route, the real flight time depends heavily on the specific aircraft, the route and the winds, so treat a figure like 15 hours as the order of magnitude and not a prediction.
Notice how the fixed allowance matters more on short flights. On the 535 km jet flight, 30 minutes of allowance is about 40% of the 73-minute total, while on the 12,000 km flight it is about 3%. That is why dividing distance by speed alone gives poor answers on short routes.
Why real flights differ from the estimate
The estimate is a starting point. A real flight can differ for several reasons:
- Wind. Jet streams can add or remove a lot of ground speed on long routes. A flight with a tailwind covers the ground faster, and a headwind slows it. As a general rule, winds can shift the time on a long-haul route by up to an hour or more. On a 5,570 km route, a 60 km/h headwind makes the cruise 7 hours 20 minutes instead of 6 hours 48 minutes, and a 60 km/h tailwind makes it 6 hours 20 minutes. Adding the same 30 minutes gives roughly 7 hours 50 minutes and 6 hours 50 minutes. That is why the same route can take noticeably longer in one direction than the other, which is common on east-west routes.
- Routing. Aeroplanes do not always fly the straight great-circle line. Air traffic control, restricted airspace, weather and noise rules can add distance.
- Airport procedures. Taxi time at a large airport can be much more than a few minutes, and holding patterns and queues add to it. The fixed allowance in the estimate is a rough average.
- Aircraft type and weight. Different models have different cruise speeds, and heavy aircraft climb more slowly at first.
- Block time versus air time. Airlines schedule “block time”, which is from leaving the stand to arriving at the gate, and it usually includes a margin for delays. Air time is shorter.
If you need an accurate answer for a specific flight, use the airline’s schedule, the live flight status or the flight tracker. Our guide on How flight times are worked out explains how flight times are worked out and why the schedule can look different from the clock.
Distance units, and the time zone trap
Be careful with units. A common error is mixing kilometres with miles. If you use 3,461 miles with a speed in km/h, the answer is wrong by a factor of 1.6. Check that the distance and the speed are in the same system. The estimator lets you pick kilometres, miles or nautical miles for distance and works in km/h for the speed.
The other trap is time zones. A flight time is a duration, so it does not change when you cross a time zone, but the arrival clock time does. If you leave London at 10:00 for a flight that takes about 7 hours 18 minutes, you arrive at about 17:18 London time. In New York, which is several hours behind in autumn and winter, the local clock time is earlier than 17:18, so the local arrival could look much earlier than the departure suggests. Clock changes in each country can also differ in timing, which affects the offset for a few weeks a year. Our Time zones explained: how to convert times without mistakes guide explains how to convert times without mistakes.
To work out arrival times from the clock times on a ticket, use the flight duration tool, which does it from the local departure and arrival times. The distance method here is for the other question: how long will a flight probably take when you only know where it goes?
Using the estimate for planning
An estimate from distance is useful in several practical ways:
- Comparing routes. If two itineraries are similar in distance, the one with an extra stop will be longer by the connection time plus another ground allowance.
- Checking a schedule. If the airline quotes 11 hours for a 9,000 km route and your estimate is 11 hours 28 minutes, they are in the same region. If the schedule is an hour longer than expected, there may be a stop, a detour or a headwind effect.
- Planning arrival. Add the time for getting to the airport, check-in, security and baggage reclaim at both ends. A short flight can be a small part of a door-to-door journey.
- Considering costs. Fuel use and cost depend on distance and aircraft, which our Fuel cost and mpg: UK gallons, litres and trip costs guide covers for road trips, so you can compare modes of travel.
- Comparing with other transport. For short journeys, time spent getting to and from airports often makes the real door-to-door time similar to a train, so estimate both.
Common mistakes when estimating flight time
- Forgetting the ground allowance. Using only distance ÷ speed under-estimates short flights by a lot.
- Using the wrong speed. Cruising speeds vary, so pick the nearest aircraft class, not a single number for every flight.
- Mixing units. Keep kilometres with km/h, miles with mph and nautical miles with knots.
- Using road distance. Flights follow great-circle routes, not roads, so use the air distance between airports.
- Ignoring wind direction. A flight eastward across the Atlantic is often quicker than the return, so do not expect symmetrical times.
- Treating the estimate as a schedule. It will not match the airline’s block time, and it cannot predict delays.
- Mixing duration and clock time. The duration stays the same across time zones, but the arrival time on the local clock does not.
Try the calculator
Enter a distance, choose the type of aircraft and set your own ground allowance in the Flight Time from Distance Calculator to see an estimated flight time in hours and minutes.
Frequently asked questions
How long is a 5,000 km flight?
On a wide-body jet at about 820 km/h, a 5,000 km flight is 6 hours 6 minutes of cruise time, so about 6 hours 36 minutes with a 30-minute allowance. Winds and routing can move that by up to an hour.
How fast does a passenger jet fly?
Jet airliners typically cruise at roughly 800 to 900 km/h, which is about 500 to 560 mph. The average speed over a whole trip is lower, because of the time spent taxiing, climbing and descending.
Why is the flight home often shorter or longer?
Winds. Over the Atlantic, the prevailing winds at cruising height usually blow from west to east, so eastbound flights tend to be quicker than westbound ones. The difference can be up to an hour or more on long routes.
How do I convert miles to kilometres for the estimate?
Multiply miles by 1.609 to get kilometres. For example, 3,461 miles is about 5,570 km. You can also enter miles directly into the calculator, which converts for you.
Does flight time include boarding and taxiing?
The fixed allowance in the estimate covers taxi, take-off, climb and descent, but not check-in, security or boarding. Add those separately for the full door-to-door time.