AM3 distance and great-circle path
AM3 covers 9,199 km, or 5,716 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 100 by distance.
The plane leaves Mexico City heading north-east. 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 MEX-CDG route appears on a tracker map.
Why AM3 block time differs from cruise time
The schedule allows 10.5 hours from gate to gate. That works out to about 876 km/h. A Boeing 787-9 cruises faster than that. The gap is taxi time, climbing, descending and holding.
Winds aloft shift the real flight time by up to an hour in either direction. See how timing changes the trip in our red-eye flight guide.
Can the Boeing 787-9 comfortably fly AM3?
Not really. It uses about 66% of the Boeing 787-9's range. That leaves room for a full load of passengers and bags. The full numbers are on our aircraft page for the Boeing 787-9.
What to know about AM3
- Time change: you land 7 hours ahead of the time you left. That is enough to cause jet lag. Here is how pilots handle it.
- Flies far north: the real path runs much closer to the pole than a flat map suggests.
- High airport at the start: MEX sits 7,316 ft up. Thin air means a longer takeoff run.