JetSetAuthority

Route · Africa

CAI Cairo ⇄ IST Istanbul

Cairo International Airport (Egypt) and İstanbul Airport (Turkey): great-circle distance, estimated scheduled flight time each way, time difference and jet lag.

Distance1,264 km786 mi683 nautical miles
CAI → IST2 h 30 minestimated block time
IST → CAI2 h 30 minestimated block time
Clock change+1 hIstanbul vs Cairo, today
Great-circle route from Cairo (CAI) to Istanbul (IST)CAICairoISTIstanbul
The shortest path over the Earth’s surface (great circle), drawn on a Natural Earth projection. Real flight paths bend around weather, winds and closed airspace.

Flight time each way

CAI → IST

2 h 30 min

Estimated gate-to-gate scheduled time. Initial heading 350° (N).

Leave Cairo Sat 7 Nov, 10:00 local → arrive Istanbul Sat 7 Nov, 13:30 local.

IST → CAI

2 h 30 min

Estimated gate-to-gate scheduled time. Initial heading 168° (SSE).

Leave Istanbul Sat 7 Nov, 10:00 local → arrive Cairo Sat 7 Nov, 11:30 local.

The two directions differ by 3 minutes in our estimate: this route runs mostly north–south, so the prevailing westerly winds make little difference. How we estimate it.

Distance

Great-circle distance1,264 km · 786 mi · 683 nmi
Initial heading350° (N) from CAI; 168° (SSE) from IST
Farthest from the equator41.3°N
Crossesneither the equator nor the 180th meridian
Share of the longest possible trip6% of the 20,015 km to the far side of the Earth

Time zones and jet lag

CAIAfrica/Cairo — UTC+2 now; UTC+2 standard time, UTC+3 during daylight saving time
ISTEurope/Istanbul — UTC+3 now; UTC+3 all year (no daylight saving time)
DifferenceIstanbul is 1 hour ahead of Cairo today; +1 h in January and ±0 h in July because daylight saving time starts and ends on different dates (or not at all).

Jet lag, flying CAI → IST. Your body clock has to move 1 hour earlier, like an eastward trip. A shift this small rarely causes much jet lag; most people feel normal within a day or so. Flying the other way, the shift is reversed.

General information, not medical advice.

The two airports

CAI Cairo International AirportCairo, Egypt · longest runway 13,124 ft4,000 m IST İstanbul AirportIstanbul, Turkey · longest runway 13,451 ft4,100 m

More routes from CAI and IST

JEDCAI Jeddah – Cairo 1,216 km756 mi · 2 h 30 min RUHCAI Riyadh – Cairo 1,612 km1,002 mi · 3 h DXBCAI Dubai – Cairo 2,417 km1,502 mi · 4 h LHRCAI London – Cairo 3,533 km2,195 mi · 4 h 45 min ISTADB Istanbul – Izmir 358 km222 mi · 1 h 30 min ATHIST Athens – Istanbul 553 km344 mi · 1 h 40 min CDGIST Paris – Istanbul 2,212 km1,374 mi · 3 h 20 min ISTDEL Istanbul – Delhi 4,567 km2,838 mi · 5 h 45 min JFKIST New York – Istanbul 8,026 km4,987 mi · 9 h 30 min LAXIST Los Angeles – Istanbul 11,002 km6,836 mi · 13 h 05 min

Routes of a similar length

DELHYD Delhi – Hyderabad 1,267 km787 mi · 2 h 30 min ICNNRT Seoul – Tokyo 1,257 km781 mi · 2 h 20 min JNBCPT Johannesburg – Cape Town 1,272 km790 mi · 2 h 35 min PVGHKG Shanghai – Hong Kong 1,255 km780 mi · 2 h 35 min

Need a different pair? The flight-time calculator works for any two of 3,245 airports. Not covered: which airlines fly this route, schedules, fares and live status — that data is proprietary and we don’t guess it.

Photos on airport pages are credited there. Estimates are rounded to 5 minutes; typical error about 13 minutes (validation).