JetSetAuthority

Route · Africa

JFK New York ⇄ ACC Accra

John F. Kennedy International Airport (United States) and Kotoka International Airport (Ghana): great-circle distance, estimated scheduled flight time each way, time difference and jet lag.

Distance8,222 km5,109 mi4,439 nautical miles
JFK → ACC9 h 50 minestimated block time
ACC → JFK11 hestimated block time
Clock change+4 hAccra vs New York, today
Great-circle route from New York (JFK) to Accra (ACC)JFKNew YorkACCAccra
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

JFK → ACC

9 h 50 min

Estimated gate-to-gate scheduled time. Initial heading 96° (E).

Leave New York Sat 7 Nov, 10:00 local → arrive Accra Sun 8 Nov, 00:50 local +1 day.

ACC → JFK

11 h

Estimated gate-to-gate scheduled time. Initial heading 311° (NW).

Leave Accra Sat 7 Nov, 10:00 local → arrive New York Sat 7 Nov, 16:00 local.

JFK-bound flights are the slower direction by about 70 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 distance8,222 km · 5,109 mi · 4,439 nmi
Initial heading96° (E) from JFK; 311° (NW) from ACC
Farthest from the equator40.6°N
Crossesneither the equator nor the 180th meridian
Share of the longest possible trip41% of the 20,015 km to the far side of the Earth

Time zones and jet lag

JFKAmerica/New_York — UTC−4 now; UTC−5 standard time, UTC−4 during daylight saving time
ACCAfrica/Accra — UTC+0 now; UTC+0 all year (no daylight saving time)
DifferenceAccra is 4 hours ahead of New York today; +5 h in January and +4 h in July because daylight saving time starts and ends on different dates (or not at all).

Jet lag, flying JFK → ACC. Your body clock has to move 4 hours earlier, like an eastward trip. A common rule of thumb is that the body clock adjusts by roughly one time zone a day, so expect up to about 4 days to fully adjust. Shifting earlier (as here) is usually the harder direction; morning daylight at the destination helps. Flying the other way, the shift is reversed.

General information, not medical advice.

The two airports

JFK John F. Kennedy International AirportNew York, United States · longest runway 14,511 ft4,423 m ACC Kotoka International AirportAccra, Ghana · longest runway 11,165 ft3,403 m

More routes from JFK and ACC

JFKBOS New York – Boston 300 km186 mi · 1 h 20 min JFKDEN New York – Denver 2,610 km1,622 mi · 4 h 20 min JFKLHR New York – London 5,540 km3,442 mi · 6 h 50 min JFKMUC New York – Munich 6,481 km4,027 mi · 7 h 50 min JFKNRT New York – Tokyo 10,830 km6,729 mi · 13 h 50 min SINJFK Singapore – New York 15,341 km9,532 mi · 18 h 30 min LHRACC London – Accra 5,100 km3,169 mi · 6 h 50 min

Routes of a similar length

SFONRT San Francisco – Tokyo 8,227 km5,112 mi · 11 h 25 min YVRICN Vancouver – Seoul 8,200 km5,095 mi · 11 h CDGPEK Paris – Beijing 8,190 km5,089 mi · 9 h 50 min DFWFRA Dallas–Fort Worth – Frankfurt 8,258 km5,131 mi · 9 h 50 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).