BA15 distance and great-circle path
BA15 covers 17,020 km, or 10,576 miles. That makes it an ultra-long-range flight, one of the longest commercial sectors flown anywhere. It is the 1st longest route we track.
The plane leaves London 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 LHR–SYD route appears on a tracker map.
Why BA15 block time differs from cruise time
The schedule allows 23.7 hours from gate to gate. That works out to about 719 km/h. A Boeing 777-300ER cruises faster than that. The gap is taxi time, climbing, descending and holding.
Flying east, this route usually picks up tailwinds high up. The flight back west normally takes longer, even though the distance is identical. See how timing changes the trip in our red-eye flight guide.
Can the Boeing 777-300ER comfortably fly BA15?
Yes. The route uses roughly 125% of what a Boeing 777-300ER 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 777-300ER.
What to know about BA15
- Time change: you land 9 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.