JetSetAuthority

Route · Middle East and the Gulf hubs

DXB Dubai ⇄ IST Istanbul

Dubai International Airport (United Arab Emirates) and İstanbul Airport (Turkey): great-circle distance, estimated scheduled flight time each way, time difference and jet lag.

Distance3,030 km1,883 mi1,636 nautical miles
DXB → IST4 h 45 minestimated block time
IST → DXB4 h 15 minestimated block time
Clock change−1 hIstanbul vs Dubai, today
Great-circle route from Dubai (DXB) to Istanbul (IST)DXBDubaiISTIstanbul
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

DXB → IST

4 h 45 min

Estimated gate-to-gate scheduled time. Initial heading 313° (NW).

Leave Dubai Sat 7 Nov, 10:00 local → arrive Istanbul Sat 7 Nov, 13:45 local.

IST → DXB

4 h 15 min

Estimated gate-to-gate scheduled time. Initial heading 118° (ESE).

Leave Istanbul Sat 7 Nov, 10:00 local → arrive Dubai Sat 7 Nov, 15:15 local.

IST-bound flights are the slower direction by about 30 minutes in our estimate: the route runs mostly east–west through latitudes where the prevailing westerly winds at cruise height are strong, so heading east rides a tailwind and heading west fights a headwind. How we estimate it.

Distance

Great-circle distance3,030 km · 1,883 mi · 1,636 nmi
Initial heading313° (NW) from DXB; 118° (ESE) from IST
Farthest from the equator41.3°N
Crossesneither the equator nor the 180th meridian
Share of the longest possible trip15% of the 20,015 km to the far side of the Earth

Time zones and jet lag

DXBAsia/Dubai — UTC+4 now; UTC+4 all year (no daylight saving time)
ISTEurope/Istanbul — UTC+3 now; UTC+3 all year (no daylight saving time)
DifferenceIstanbul is 1 hour behind Dubai today.

Jet lag, flying DXB → IST. Your body clock has to move 1 hour later, like a westward 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

DXB Dubai International AirportDubai, United Arab Emirates · longest runway 14,590 ft4,447 m IST İstanbul AirportIstanbul, Turkey · longest runway 13,451 ft4,100 m

More routes from DXB and IST

DXBRUH Dubai – Riyadh 874 km543 mi · 2 h 05 min ADDDXB Addis Ababa – Dubai 2,519 km1,565 mi · 3 h 50 min DXBCDG Dubai – Paris 5,239 km3,255 mi · 7 h 35 min DXBHKG Dubai – Hong Kong 5,919 km3,678 mi · 7 h 20 min DXBMEL Dubai – Melbourne 11,644 km7,235 mi · 13 h 50 min DXBAKL Dubai – Auckland 14,199 km8,823 mi · 16 h 30 min ISTADB Istanbul – Izmir 358 km222 mi · 1 h 30 min ATHIST Athens – Istanbul 553 km344 mi · 1 h 40 min FRAIST Frankfurt – Istanbul 1,837 km1,141 mi · 3 h 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

MANTFS Manchester – Tenerife 3,048 km1,894 mi · 4 h 40 min JNBMRU Johannesburg – Mauritius 3,066 km1,905 mi · 4 h 20 min YYZPUJ Toronto – Punta Cana 2,984 km1,854 mi · 4 h 20 min YULCUN Montreal – Cancún 2,969 km1,845 mi · 4 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).