Can I measure a trip with stops?

Yes. Type every airport in order, such as "LJU FRA SIN". You get each leg, the total distance, the flying time without the time on the ground, and the EU261 distance from the first airport to the last.

How long is a flight of 1,000 km?

About 2 h gate to gate; 5,000 km take about 6 h 40 min. The estimate is 48 minutes for taxiing, climb and approach plus the distance at 847 km/h, fitted to real US flights. Winds make one direction faster than the other.

Which distance counts for EU261 compensation?

The great-circle distance from the first departure to the final destination of the booking; connections do not add to it. Up to 1,500 km the amount is €250, up to 3,500 km €400 (and any longer flight within the EU), beyond that €600, for arriving 3 hours or more late. UK261 uses the same bands: £220, £350 and £520.

Are air miles the same as frequent-flyer miles?

Air miles here are statute miles of distance (1 mile = 1.609 km) along the great circle. Loyalty programmes that award miles by distance start from the same airport-to-airport distance, but each one publishes its own table and rules.

AirportMiles

Flight distance calculator

Air miles, kilometres and flight time between two or more airports. Type codes or cities: “LHR JFK”, “LJU FRA SIN”, “Vienna to Lisbon”.

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How the distance is measured

The distance is the shortest path over the earth's surface between the two airports' coordinates, on the WGS-84 ellipsoid that GPS uses (computed with GeographicLib). It comes in kilometres, statute miles (1 mi = 1.609344 km) and nautical miles (1 nm = 1.852 km), the unit pilots use. Real flights follow airways and winds, so the distance flown is usually a little longer.

EU261 and UK261 measure "by the great circle route method": on a sphere, from the first departure to the final destination of the booking. The calculator shows that distance with the compensation band; the bands start at 1,500 and 3,500 km.

How the flight time is estimated

Gate to gate time = 48 minutes for taxiing, climb and approach + the great-circle distance at 847 km/h, rounded to 5 minutes. Both numbers are fitted to 8,609,021 scheduled US flights (2025-08…2026-07, US DOT / BTS T-100). Route pages show the real average times instead, each way, where the data has them.

Examples

Route	Kilometres	Miles	Flight time
New York (JFK) – London (LHR)	5,555	3,452	~7 h 20 min
Los Angeles (LAX) – New York (JFK)	3,983	2,475	~5 h 30 min
London (LHR) – Dubai (DXB)	5,505	3,421	~7 h 15 min
Singapore (SIN) – London (LHR)	10,888	6,765	~13 h 40 min
Sydney (SYD) – Los Angeles (LAX)	12,051	7,488	~15 h
Frankfurt (FRA) – New York (JFK)	6,206	3,856	~8 h 5 min
Madrid (MAD) – Barcelona (BCN)	484	301	~1 h 20 min

Flight times here are the estimate from distance. CO2 per passenger uses the UK government's 2026 conversion factors (DESNZ), economy, including the effect of flying high; details on Sources.

Questions

Type two airport codes or city names, such as "LHR JFK" or "London to New York". The calculator measures the shortest path over the earth between the two airports on the WGS-84 ellipsoid (the model GPS uses), and gives it in kilometres, statute miles and nautical miles.