Airports worldwide
Flight Time Calculator
Choose two airports to estimate the distance and theoretical time in the air.
About 8,800 airports worldwide · Estimates, not schedules
Estimates only — not airline schedules, and not total travel time.
Choose two airports, then select Estimate Flight Time to see your estimate and map.
Try an example
Fill in the calculator with a sample airport pair. Examples do not confirm that a flight operates.
JFK → LAX
John F. Kennedy International Airport
New York, US
Los Angeles International Airport
Los Angeles, US
Modeled air time from distance, not a timetable.
LHR → CDG
London Heathrow Airport
London, GB
Charles de Gaulle International Airport
Paris (Roissy-en-France, Val-d'Oise), FR
Modeled air time from distance, not a timetable.
SFO → LAX
San Francisco International Airport
San Francisco, US
Los Angeles International Airport
Los Angeles, US
Modeled air time from distance, not a timetable.
LHR → SYD
London Heathrow Airport
London, GB
Sydney Kingsford Smith International Airport
Sydney (Mascot), AU
No nonstop flight today. The estimate is distance-based air time only; real trips include a stop.
Before you book
Air time, timetable and door-to-door are three different numbers
The duration printed on a ticket is a timetable figure. It includes taxiing, queueing for the runway and a buffer that airlines add so flights arrive on time, and it changes with the season. This calculator gives the part underneath: the distance between two airports and a modelled time in the air.
New York JFK to Los Angeles LAX is 3,974 km, which the model turns into about 5h 28min. In reality westbound flights on that route usually take longer, because they fly into the jet stream, and eastbound flights are quicker. The estimate is the same both ways, so read it as a middle value.
Door-to-door time is the third number, and the one that decides most trips: getting to the airport, security, boarding and the journey into town at the other end. Our guide on flight time vs distance breaks it down.
Short hops
On short flights, take-off and landing are most of the trip
London Heathrow to Paris Charles de Gaulle is only 348 km. The model gives about 56 min, and more than half of that is the fixed 30-minute allowance for climbing out and coming down. Cruising speed barely matters at this range.
This is why short routes are where flying most often loses to the ground. Compare the straight-line and road figures for London to Paris, then consider how far each airport is from the city centre before deciding.
Starting from a town
When the nearest airport is not the one you want
Kyoto has no airport of its own. Type it into the search box under an airport field and the calculator lists ITM (39 km away), UKB (65 km) and KIX (81 km). Osaka Itami is the closest, but it handles domestic flights only; Kansai International, the furthest of the three, is where most long-haul visitors actually land.
The list is sorted by distance and shows the airports in our catalogue that have scheduled service. It cannot know which one has the flight you need, so treat it as a shortlist and pick the airport that fits your trip.
At the edge of range
Where the model reaches its limits
London Heathrow to Sydney is 17,021 km, close to the longest distance between two major cities. The model gives about 21h 47min in the air, but no airline flies it nonstop today; every trip includes at least one stop, which adds hours the model does not count.
Plans to change that are covered on our Project Sunrise page, and the longest flights page lists the routes that are already flown without a stop.
A simple model, not a timetable
We measure the shortest distance between the two airports, then estimate time in the air using a fixed average speed plus an allowance for takeoff and landing. Read our methodology.
Model details & data source
Simplified model: great-circle distance ÷ 800 km/h + 30 minutes. No wind, aircraft, routing, taxi queue or schedule data. Not actual flight time.
Haversine distance uses a 6,371 km sphere. Displayed distances are rounded; time uses the unrounded distance. The fixed allowance is a model parameter, not an observed taxi or take-off duration. Climb and descent are not modeled separately. Estimates are the same in either direction.
Coordinates: OurAirports public-domain data · Updated October 25, 2026. The full 8,800-record catalogue loads on this calculator; other pages use a small reference subset until airport search is opened.
Flight estimate questions
Does this show actual flight schedules?
No. This calculator uses airport coordinates and a simplified time model, not airline schedules or live flight data. Actual duration varies with winds, aircraft, routing and airport conditions.
Does an estimate mean there is a nonstop flight?
No. A nonstop flight is not confirmed. Connections may be required. The estimate only reflects the distance between the two airports.
Is this a door-to-door travel estimate?
No. It does not include travel to or from airports, check-in, security, boarding, connections or baggage collection.
Where do the airport coordinates come from?
From OurAirports, an open airport database. The calculator includes about 8,800 airports with IATA codes; closed airports are excluded. Being listed does not confirm that an airport currently has flights, or that a route is flown.