CX255 distance and great-circle path
CX255 covers 9,631 km, or 5,984 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 80 by distance.
The plane leaves Hong Kong heading north-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 HKG-LHR route appears on a tracker map.
Why CX255 block time differs from cruise time
The schedule allows 13.8 hours from gate to gate. That works out to about 700 km/h. An Airbus A350-1000 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 A350-1000 comfortably fly CX255?
Not really. It uses about 60% of the Airbus A350-1000's range. That leaves room for a full load of passengers and bags. The full numbers are on our aircraft page for the Airbus A350-1000.
What to know about CX255
- Time change: you land 8 hours behind the time you left. That is enough to cause jet lag. Here is how pilots handle it.