AY1331 distance and great-circle path
AY1331 covers 1,848 km, or 1,148 miles. That makes it a medium-haul flight, long enough for a full meal service, short enough for narrowbodies. Of the 255 routes we track, it ranks 209 by distance.
The plane leaves Helsinki heading 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 HEL–LHR route appears on a tracker map.
Why AY1331 block time differs from cruise time
The schedule allows 3.2 hours from gate to gate. That works out to about 583 km/h. An Airbus A321 cruises faster than that. The gap is taxi time, climbing, descending and holding.
Flying west, this route pushes against the wind. The trip back east is usually shorter, even though the distance is the same. See why long flights take odd-looking routes.
Can the Airbus A321 comfortably fly AY1331?
Not at all. At roughly 31% of its range, this is an easy trip for an Airbus A321. The airline picked it for cabin size, not distance. The full numbers are on our aircraft page for the Airbus A321.
What to know about AY1331
- Time change: you land 2 hours behind the time you left.
- Flies far north: the real path runs much closer to the pole than a flat map suggests.