NZ8 distance and great-circle path
NZ8 covers 10,509 km, or 6,530 miles. That makes it an ultra-long-haul flight, near the limit of what most twinjets can fly non-stop. Of the 327 routes we track, it ranks 57 by distance.
Auckland to San Francisco crosses the international date line. The 10,509 km track runs north-east, and the calendar date at the gate in San Francisco will not be the one the cabin expects. It links New Zealand with United States.
Our guide explains how the AKL-SFO route appears on a tracker map.
Can the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner comfortably fly NZ8?
Not really. It uses about 75% of the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner'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 Dreamliner.
What to know about NZ8
- Time change: you land 20 hours behind 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.
- Flies far north: the real path runs much closer to the pole than a flat map suggests.