Air China· Callsign CCA173 ·Daily

CA173 from Beijing to Sydney, tracked live

A key Oceania trunk route from the Chinese capital.

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Status on this page means observed ADS-B activity inside available receiver coverage. Confirm official delay, cancellation, gate and booking status with Air China.

PEK
Beijing
Beijing Capital International Airport
00:30 CST (UTC+8)
11h 25m
8,963 km · 5,569 mi
Non-stop
SYD
Sydney
Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport
13:55 AEDT (UTC+11)
Typical schedule · next departure Friday, October 30 · times shown in airport local time
Aircraft
Airbus A350-900
typical equipment
Distance
8,963 km
4,840 nautical miles
Heading
151°
tracks south-east
Clock change
+3 h
on arrival
Block speed
785 km/h
gate to gate average
Range used
60%
of the type's book range
Length rank
#114
of 439 tracked routes

Follow CA173 in real time

The aircraft appears below whenever it is airborne and inside receiver coverage. Its planned route is drawn between the two airports.

CA173 is not transmitting right now. It may be between rotations, on the ground, or out of receiver range - Check back near 00:30 at PEK. The full map has the rest of the sky, and what is flying over me will name whatever is above you instead.

CA173 at a glance

  • The trip: 8,963 km (5,569 miles) from Beijing to Sydney, flying south-east.
  • How long: 11h 25m gate to gate. That is about 785 km/h on average, taxi time included.
  • Your watch: set it 3 hours forward on arrival.
  • Window seat tip: either side works on this heading.
  • The plane: usually an Airbus A350-900. This route uses about 60% of how far it can fly.
  • When it goes: out of PEK in the small hours, into SYD in midday.

CA173 route overview: PEK to SYD

CA173 distance and great-circle path

CA173 covers 8,963 km, or 5,569 miles. That makes it a long-haul flight, a widebody route with a full night's flying time. Of the 439 routes we track, it ranks 114 by distance.

The plane leaves Beijing heading south-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 PEK-SYD route appears on a tracker map.

Why CA173 block time differs from cruise time

The schedule allows 11.4 hours from gate to gate. That works out to about 785 km/h. An Airbus A350-900 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 high-altitude winds behave in our guide to turbulence and jet streams.

Can the Airbus A350-900 comfortably fly CA173?

Not really. It uses about 60% of the Airbus A350-900's range. That leaves room for a full load of passengers and bags. The full numbers are on our aircraft page for the Airbus A350-900.

What to know about CA173

  • Time change: you land 3 hours ahead of the time you left.
  • Crosses the equator: you swap seasons between takeoff and landing.

CA173 activity in the past 7 days

Our database contains 8 observations of CA173 across 8 UTC dates in this window, most recently 2026-10-29. Those records contain 6 distinct transponder addresses.

The median recorded visibility was 388 minutes. That is time inside receiver coverage, not airborne duration or an on-time-performance measurement.

Date (UTC)RouteFirst trackedLast trackedTracked for
2026-10-29 tracked in flight 10:43 UTC 12:23 UTC 1h 40m
2026-10-28 tracked in flight 10:39 UTC 21:00 UTC 10h 21m
2026-10-27 tracked in flight 10:27 UTC 21:12 UTC 10h 46m
2026-10-26 tracked in flight 10:21 UTC 21:01 UTC 10h 40m
2026-10-25 tracked in flight 10:52 UTC 21:23 UTC 10h 31m
2026-10-24 tracked in flight 02:57 UTC 05:23 UTC 2h 26m
2026-10-23 tracked in flight 18:19 UTC 20:07 UTC 1h 48m
2026-10-22 tracked in flight 02:03 UTC 04:39 UTC 2h 35m

“First/last tracked” are when CA173 entered and left receiver coverage, in UTC.

Airports and aircraft on CA173

Every scheduled service we follow is listed in the tracker directory, including Air China and other tracked flights grouped by airline.

PEK Beijing Capital International Airport Beijing, China · live radar →
SYD Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport Sydney, Australia · live radar →
A359 Airbus A350-900 Typical equipment · specs →

How much CO2 does CA173 emit?

Worked from the great-circle distance and the fuel burn measured for Airbus A350-900, the aircraft normally flying this route. Carbon dioxide only - see the method below.

Distance flown8,963 km
AircraftAirbus A350-900
Fuel burn rate6.03 kg per km
Fuel burned54,047 kg
CO2, whole flight170.8 tonnes
Seats, typical layout300
Passengers carried249 at an 83% load factor
CO2 per passenger686 kg

Where that lands by cabin

The aircraft burns the same fuel whoever is aboard, so the cabins divide one total rather than each carrying their own. A seat's share is the floor it takes up, which is why an economy seat comes out below the 686 kg cabin average and a flat bed well above it.

Economy246 seats, 204 flown
503 kg CO2 per seat
Business45 seats, 37 flown
1,460 kg CO2 per seat
First9 seats, 7 flown
2,013 kg CO2 per seat

Taken whole, CA173 emits what 2,846 trees take back out of the air in a year. One economy seat on it accounts for about the same carbon dioxide as driving a petrol car 4,035 km, or 19,597 km of the same journey by train.

How this is worked out. Fuel burn is read from published measurements of this type, taken at sectors of 9,208 km, 10,249 km and 12,116 km, all longer than this route, so the closest is held flat and the real figure is likely a little higher. It counts carbon dioxide only, and the cabin split assumes the layout typical of this size of aircraft. Read the full method, sources and caveats, or put CA173 against another flight.

Other tracked flights from Beijing

FlightRouteTypical aircraft
CA889Beijing (PEK) → Singapore (SIN) Airbus A330-300CA889 flight tracker →
CX336Hong Kong (HKG) → Beijing (PEK) Airbus A330-300CX336 flight tracker →
CA109Beijing (PEK) → Hong Kong (HKG) Airbus A321CA109 flight tracker →
CA186Taipei (TPE) → Beijing (PEK) Airbus A330-300CA186 flight tracker →
KL897Amsterdam (AMS) → Beijing (PEK) Boeing 777-300ERKL897 flight tracker →
SU208Moscow (SVO) → Beijing (PEK) Airbus A330-300SU208 flight tracker →

Guides relevant to CA173

Chosen from this route's distance, timing, aircraft, airline and airports.

Narrowbody vs widebody aircraft A long-haul sector makes aircraft size, cabin layout and range especially relevant.
Boeing versus Airbus The typical aircraft is built by Airbus; these visual clues help identify it.
Airline alliances explained Air China belongs to Star Alliance, which affects connections and codeshares.

Data sources and review

Reviewed 2026-07-29 by Flight-Tracker.net Editorial Team

The route and typical schedule are maintained reference data. Live ADS-B observations are evidence of receiver coverage, not proof of on-time performance. Always confirm the operating date and times with the airline.

Read our schedule and observation review process, or inspect the machine-readable reference dataset.

Put CA173 on your own site

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CA173 frequently asked questions

How long is the CA173 flight?

Beijing to Sydney is 8,963 km (5,569 miles) in a straight line, scheduled at 11.4 hours gate to gate. Actual airborne time varies with winds, routing and holding.

What aircraft operates CA173?

Typically an Airbus A350-900 (full specifications), using roughly 60% of that type's published range.

Does CA173 fly every day?

The published pattern is daily, departing 00:30 local from PEK. Always confirm with the airline before travelling.

Can I track CA173 live?

Yes. Whenever CA173 is airborne and in receiver coverage the map above follows it live, with altitude, ground speed and heading. Between rotations, the seven-day log above shows where it has been.

More Air China flights to watch

FlightRouteTypical aircraft
CA889 Beijing (PEK) → Singapore (SIN) Airbus A330-300 CA889 flight tracker →
CA109 Beijing (PEK) → Hong Kong (HKG) Airbus A321 CA109 flight tracker →
CA186 Taipei (TPE) → Beijing (PEK) Airbus A330-300 CA186 flight tracker →
CA981 Beijing (PEK) → New York (JFK) Boeing 777-300ER CA981 flight tracker →
CA937 Beijing (PEK) → London (LHR) Boeing 787-9 CA937 flight tracker →
CA1501 Beijing (PEK) → Shanghai (SHA) Boeing 747-8I CA1501 flight tracker →
CA125 Beijing (PEK) → Hong Kong (HKG) Airbus A330-300 CA125 flight tracker →