QF7 distance and great-circle path
QF7 covers 13,808 km, or 8,580 miles. That makes it an ultra-long-range flight, one of the longest commercial sectors flown anywhere. Of the 439 routes we track, it ranks 11 by distance.
The plane leaves Sydney heading east. 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-DFW route appears on a tracker map.
Why QF7 block time differs from cruise time
The schedule allows 15.4 hours from gate to gate. That works out to about 896 km/h. An Airbus A380-800 cruises faster than that. The gap is taxi time, climbing, descending and holding.
Flying east, this route usually picks up tailwinds high up. The flight back west normally takes longer, even though the distance is identical. See how timing changes the trip in our red-eye flight guide.
Can the Airbus A380-800 comfortably fly QF7?
Yes. The route uses roughly 93% 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 QF7
- Time change: you land 16 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.
- Crosses the date line: the calendar date changes while you are in the air.