EK1 distance and great-circle path
EK1 covers 5,497 km, or 3,416 miles. That makes it a long-haul flight, a widebody route with a full night's flying time. Of the 255 routes we track, it ranks 158 by distance.
The plane leaves Dubai 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 DXB–LHR route appears on a tracker map.
Why EK1 block time differs from cruise time
The schedule allows 7.7 hours from gate to gate. That works out to about 717 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 high-altitude winds behave in our guide to turbulence and jet streams.
Can the Airbus A380-800 comfortably fly EK1?
Not at all. At roughly 37% of its range, this is an easy trip for an Airbus A380-800. The airline picked it for cabin size, not distance. The full numbers are on our aircraft page for the Airbus A380-800.
What to know about EK1
- Time change: you land 3 hours behind the time you left.