KL591 distance and great-circle path
KL591 covers 9,017 km, or 5,603 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 110 by distance.
The plane leaves Amsterdam heading south. 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 AMS-JNB route appears on a tracker map.
Why KL591 block time differs from cruise time
The schedule allows 10.8 hours from gate to gate. That works out to about 832 km/h. A Boeing 777-300ER 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 777-300ER comfortably fly KL591?
Not really. It uses about 66% of the Boeing 777-300ER's range. That leaves room for a full load of passengers and bags. The full numbers are on our aircraft page for the Boeing 777-300ER.
What to know about KL591
- Time change: you land 1 hour ahead of the time you left.
- Crosses the equator: you swap seasons between takeoff and landing.
- High airport at the end: JNB sits 5,558 ft up, so the plane lands faster than it looks.