AC33 distance and great-circle path
AC33 covers 12,501 km, or 7,768 miles. That makes it an ultra-long-haul flight, near the limit of what most twinjets can fly non-stop. Of the 439 routes we track, it ranks 20 by distance.
The plane leaves Vancouver heading south-west. On the map above, the line looks curved. That is normal. The shortest path over a round planet never looks straight on a flat screen. Our guide explains how the YVR-SYD route appears on a tracker map.
Why AC33 block time differs from cruise time
The schedule allows 15.5 hours from gate to gate. That works out to about 807 km/h. A Boeing 787-9 cruises faster than that. The gap is taxi time, climbing, descending and holding.
Flying west, this route pushes against the wind. The trip back east is usually shorter, even though the distance is the same. See how timing changes the trip in our red-eye flight guide.
Can the Boeing 787-9 comfortably fly AC33?
Yes. The route uses roughly 89% of what a Boeing 787-9 can fly. On a windy day the airline may carry less cargo to save fuel. Flights this close to the limit are the ones that sometimes make a fuel stop. The full numbers are on our aircraft page for the Boeing 787-9.
What to know about AC33
- Time change: you land 18 hours ahead of the time you left. That is enough to cause jet lag. Here is how pilots handle it.
- Crosses the equator: you swap seasons between takeoff and landing.
- Crosses the date line: the calendar date changes while you are in the air.