JL43 distance and great-circle path
JL43 covers 9,592 km, or 5,960 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 85 by distance.
The plane leaves Tokyo 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 HND-LHR route appears on a tracker map.
Why JL43 block time differs from cruise time
The schedule allows 14.4 hours from gate to gate. That works out to about 665 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 timing changes the trip in our red-eye flight guide.
Can the Airbus A350-1000 comfortably fly JL43?
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 JL43
- Time change: you land 9 hours behind the time you left. That is enough to cause jet lag. Here is how pilots handle it.