JetSetAuthority

Route · North Atlantic

JFK New York ⇄ AMS Amsterdam

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

Distance5,848 km3,634 mi3,157 nautical miles
JFK → AMS7 h 10 minestimated block time
AMS → JFK8 h 15 minestimated block time
Clock change+5 hAmsterdam vs New York, today
Great-circle route from New York (JFK) to Amsterdam (AMS)JFKNew YorkAMSAmsterdam
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 → AMS

7 h 10 min

Estimated gate-to-gate scheduled time. Initial heading 49° (NE).

Leave New York Sat 7 Nov, 10:00 local → arrive Amsterdam Sat 7 Nov, 23:10 local.

AMS → JFK

8 h 15 min

Estimated gate-to-gate scheduled time. Initial heading 291° (WNW).

Leave Amsterdam Sat 7 Nov, 10:00 local → arrive New York Sat 7 Nov, 12:15 local.

JFK-bound flights are the slower direction by about 65 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 distance5,848 km · 3,634 mi · 3,157 nmi
Initial heading49° (NE) from JFK; 291° (WNW) from AMS
Farthest from the equator55.1°N
Crossesneither the equator nor the 180th meridian
Share of the longest possible trip29% 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
AMSEurope/Amsterdam — UTC+1 now; UTC+1 standard time, UTC+2 during daylight saving time
DifferenceAmsterdam is 5 hours ahead of New York today.

Jet lag, flying JFK → AMS. Your body clock has to move 5 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 5 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 AMS Amsterdam Airport SchipholAmsterdam, Netherlands · longest runway 12,467 ft3,800 m

More routes from JFK and AMS

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 JFKFCO New York – Rome 6,866 km4,267 mi · 8 h 10 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 LHRAMS London – Amsterdam 370 km230 mi · 1 h 25 min AMSBCN Amsterdam – Barcelona 1,241 km771 mi · 2 h 30 min AMSATH Amsterdam – Athens 2,182 km1,356 mi · 3 h 20 min AMSNBO Amsterdam – Nairobi 6,677 km4,149 mi · 8 h 25 min SEAAMS Seattle – Amsterdam 7,840 km4,872 mi · 9 h 40 min AMSSIN Amsterdam – Singapore 10,514 km6,533 mi · 12 h 20 min

Routes of a similar length

DXBSIN Dubai – Singapore 5,846 km3,632 mi · 7 h 30 min EWRCDG Newark – Paris 5,857 km3,640 mi · 7 h 10 min SEAKEF Seattle – Reykjavík 5,811 km3,611 mi · 7 h 25 min ORDDUB Chicago – Dublin 5,895 km3,663 mi · 7 h 15 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).