How flight time is estimated

Great-circle distance

The shortest distance between two points on a sphere follows a "great circle" — the intersection of the sphere with a plane passing through its center. We use the Haversine formula to calculate this distance from the latitude and longitude of each airport.

This gives us the theoretical minimum distance. Actual flight paths may be longer due to air traffic control routing, restricted airspace, and weather avoidance.

Cruise speed heuristics

Commercial aircraft cruise at different effective speeds depending on the flight distance:

• Short-haul (<1,500 km): 650–750 km/h effective. More time is spent climbing and descending relative to cruise.
• Medium-haul (1,500–5,000 km): 780–850 km/h effective. A good balance of cruise and non-cruise phases.
• Long-haul (>5,000 km): 820–900 km/h effective. Most time is spent at optimal cruise altitude.

Gate-to-gate overhead

Beyond the cruise phase, flights include taxi to runway, takeoff, initial climb, descent, approach, landing, and taxi to gate. We add 30–50 minutes to account for these phases, giving a range for the total gate-to-gate time.

Limitations

These estimates are useful for planning but cannot account for: jet stream effects (which can add or subtract 30–60 minutes on transatlantic routes), specific aircraft performance, airline-specific routing, seasonal weather patterns, or airport congestion. Always check your airline for the scheduled flight duration.