JetSetAuthority

Route · Europe to Asia and Africa

LHR London ⇄ HND Tokyo

London Heathrow Airport (United Kingdom) and Tokyo Haneda International Airport (Japan): great-circle distance, estimated scheduled flight time each way, time difference and jet lag.

Distance9,592 km5,960 mi5,179 nautical miles
LHR → HND11 h 35 minestimated block time
HND → LHR12 h 20 minestimated block time
Clock change+9 hTokyo vs London, today
Great-circle route from London (LHR) to Tokyo (HND)LHRLondonHNDTokyo
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

LHR → HND

11 h 35 min

Estimated gate-to-gate scheduled time. Initial heading 31° (NNE).

Leave London Sat 7 Nov, 10:00 local → arrive Tokyo Sun 8 Nov, 06:35 local +1 day.

HND → LHR

12 h 20 min

Estimated gate-to-gate scheduled time. Initial heading 336° (NNW).

Leave Tokyo Sat 7 Nov, 10:00 local → arrive London Sat 7 Nov, 13:20 local.

LHR-bound flights are the slower direction by about 45 minutes in our estimate: the route runs partly 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 distance9,592 km · 5,960 mi · 5,179 nmi
Initial heading31° (NNE) from LHR; 336° (NNW) from HND
Farthest from the equator71.0°N — the path arcs north of both airports
Crossesneither the equator nor the 180th meridian
Share of the longest possible trip48% of the 20,015 km to the far side of the Earth

Time zones and jet lag

LHREurope/London — UTC+0 now; UTC+0 standard time, UTC+1 during daylight saving time
HNDAsia/Tokyo — UTC+9 now; UTC+9 all year (no daylight saving time)
DifferenceTokyo is 9 hours ahead of London today; +9 h in January and +8 h in July because daylight saving time starts and ends on different dates (or not at all).

Jet lag, flying LHR → HND. Your body clock has to move 9 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 9 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

LHR London Heathrow AirportLondon, United Kingdom · longest runway 12,799 ft3,901 m HND Tokyo Haneda International AirportTokyo, Japan · longest runway 11,024 ft3,360 m

More routes from LHR and HND

LHRMAN London – Manchester 243 km151 mi · 1 h 20 min LHROSL London – Oslo 1,206 km749 mi · 2 h 20 min LHRTLV London – Tel Aviv 3,589 km2,230 mi · 4 h 50 min LHRANU London – St. John's 6,553 km4,072 mi · 9 h 05 min LHRPEK London – Beijing 8,154 km5,067 mi · 9 h 50 min LHRSYD London – Sydney 17,021 km10,576 mi · 19 h 30 min HNDITM Tokyo – Osaka 404 km251 mi · 1 h 35 min HNDOKA Tokyo – Okinawa (Naha) 1,555 km966 mi · 2 h 55 min HNLHND Honolulu – Tokyo 6,191 km3,847 mi · 8 h 45 min MELHND Melbourne – Tokyo 8,158 km5,069 mi · 10 h 20 min FRAHND Frankfurt – Tokyo 9,363 km5,818 mi · 11 h 15 min JFKHND New York – Tokyo 10,875 km6,758 mi · 13 h 55 min

Routes of a similar length

CDGHKG Paris – Hong Kong 9,590 km5,959 mi · 11 h 10 min LAXMUC Los Angeles – Munich 9,616 km5,975 mi · 11 h 25 min LAXICN Los Angeles – Seoul 9,625 km5,981 mi · 13 h LIMMAD Lima – Madrid 9,526 km5,919 mi · 11 h 25 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).