DL1 distance and great-circle path
DL1 covers 5,540 km, or 3,442 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 212 by distance.
The plane leaves New York 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 JFK-LHR route appears on a tracker map.
Why DL1 block time differs from cruise time
The schedule allows 7.1 hours from gate to gate. That works out to about 782 km/h. An Airbus A330-900neo 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 Airbus A330-900neo comfortably fly DL1?
Not at all. At roughly 42% of its range, this is an easy trip for an Airbus A330-900neo. The airline picked it for cabin size, not distance. The full numbers are on our aircraft page for the Airbus A330-900neo.
What to know about DL1
- Time change: you land 4 hours ahead of the time you left.