Trip tool
Flight Distance Calculator
How far apart are two airports, and in which direction does the shortest path leave? Choose two airports or cities to see the great-circle distance in kilometres, miles and nautical miles, the initial bearing each way, and the path on a world map.
Choose two airports or cities to see the great-circle distance and initial bearing between them.
Try an example
What this is — and isn’t
It is
- The great-circle distance — the shortest path over the Earth’s surface — between two airports’ reference points.
- The initial bearing: the compass direction in which that path leaves each airport.
- Calculated in your browser from open airport data, with the method published.
It isn’t
- The distance a flight actually flies. Flights rarely follow the exact great-circle path, so the distance flown is usually longer.
- A flight time, fuel, CO₂ or price estimate. We have no sourced model for those, so we don’t show them.
- A statement that any airline flies the route.
Read the full method in Data & methodology, or look up a term in the travel data glossary.
How it’s calculated
- Distance uses the haversine formula on a sphere with the mean Earth radius of 6,371.0088 km. We convert with 1 statute mile = 1.609344 km and 1 nautical mile = 1.852 km, and round to whole units.
- Initial bearing is the forward azimuth on the same sphere, in degrees clockwise from true north, with its 16-point compass name (each point covers 22.5°).
- Airport positions are the reference points recorded by OurAirports (public domain, retrieved ) for the 3,244 large and medium airports with scheduled passenger service and an IATA code. The calculator uses positions rounded to 0.01° (about 1 km), so a result can differ from our route guides by a kilometre or so.
- City choices such as “London — all airports” use a city code that covers several airports. The calculator measures the first airport in our editorial list for that city and shows which one it used, so you can switch to another.
Worked example: London Heathrow to New York JFK
- Great-circle distance
- 5,540 km
- In statute miles
- 3,442 mi
- In nautical miles
- 2,991 nmi
Leaving LHR, the shortest path starts out at 288° (WNW). Leaving JFK for the return, it starts at 51° (NE) — not the opposite direction, because a great circle crosses each meridian at a different angle. On a flat map the path bends toward the pole; on the globe it is straight.
Comparing airports at both ends? London to New York flights lists every airport pair with its distance.
Computed from OurAirports coordinates (full precision) with the method above.