QF1 distance and great-circle path
QF1 covers 17,020 km, or 10,576 miles. That makes it an ultra-long-range flight, one of the longest commercial sectors flown anywhere. It is the 1st longest route we track.
The plane leaves Sydney 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 SYD–LHR route appears on a tracker map.
Why QF1 block time differs from cruise time
The schedule allows 23.9 hours from gate to gate. That works out to about 712 km/h. An Airbus A380-800 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 A380-800 comfortably fly QF1?
Yes. The route uses roughly 115% of what an Airbus A380-800 can fly. On a windy day the airline may carry less cargo to save fuel. Flights this close to the limit are the ones that sometimes make a fuel stop. The full numbers are on our aircraft page for the Airbus A380-800.
What to know about QF1
- Time change: you land 9 hours behind the time you left. That is enough to cause jet lag. Here is how pilots handle it.
- Crosses the equator: you swap seasons between takeoff and landing.