EK448 distance and great-circle path
EK448 covers 14,200 km, or 8,823 miles. That makes it an ultra-long-range flight, one of the longest commercial sectors flown anywhere. It is the 9th longest route we track.
The plane leaves Dubai heading south-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 DXB-AKL route appears on a tracker map.
Why EK448 block time differs from cruise time
The schedule allows 17.2 hours from gate to gate. That works out to about 827 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 EK448?
Yes. The route uses roughly 96% 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 EK448
- Time change: you land 9 hours ahead of 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.