VN55 distance and great-circle path
VN55 covers 9,238 km, or 5,740 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 99 by distance.
The plane leaves Hanoi 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 HAN-LHR route appears on a tracker map.
Why VN55 block time differs from cruise time
The schedule allows 13.0 hours from gate to gate. That works out to about 711 km/h. A Boeing 787-9 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 Boeing 787-9 comfortably fly VN55?
Not really. It uses about 66% of the Boeing 787-9's range. That leaves room for a full load of passengers and bags. The full numbers are on our aircraft page for the Boeing 787-9.
What to know about VN55
- Time change: you land 7 hours behind the time you left. That is enough to cause jet lag. Here is how pilots handle it.