JetSetAuthority

Route · Europe to Asia and Africa

LHR London ⇄ JNB Johannesburg

London Heathrow Airport (United Kingdom) and O.R. Tambo International Airport (South Africa): great-circle distance, estimated scheduled flight time each way, time difference and jet lag.

Distance9,075 km5,639 mi4,900 nautical miles
LHR → JNB11 h 10 minestimated block time
JNB → LHR11 h 35 minestimated block time
Clock change+2 hJohannesburg vs London, today
Great-circle route from London (LHR) to Johannesburg (JNB)LHRLondonJNBJohannesburg
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 → JNB

11 h 10 min

Estimated gate-to-gate scheduled time. Initial heading 154° (SSE).

Leave London Sat 7 Nov, 10:00 local → arrive Johannesburg Sat 7 Nov, 23:10 local.

JNB → LHR

11 h 35 min

Estimated gate-to-gate scheduled time. Initial heading 342° (NNW).

Leave Johannesburg Sat 7 Nov, 10:00 local → arrive London Sat 7 Nov, 19:35 local.

LHR-bound flights are the slower direction by about 20 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 distance9,075 km · 5,639 mi · 4,900 nmi
Initial heading154° (SSE) from LHR; 342° (NNW) from JNB
Farthest from the equator51.5°N
Crossesthe equator
Share of the longest possible trip45% 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
JNBAfrica/Johannesburg — UTC+2 now; UTC+2 all year (no daylight saving time)
DifferenceJohannesburg is 2 hours ahead of London today; +2 h in January and +1 h in July because daylight saving time starts and ends on different dates (or not at all).

Jet lag, flying LHR → JNB. Your body clock has to move 2 hours 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

LHR London Heathrow AirportLondon, United Kingdom · longest runway 12,799 ft3,901 m JNB O.R. Tambo International AirportJohannesburg, South Africa · longest runway 14,495 ft4,418 m

More routes from LHR and JNB

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 JNBDUR Johannesburg – Durban 478 km297 mi · 1 h 35 min JNBNBO Johannesburg – Nairobi 2,912 km1,810 mi · 4 h 20 min DXBJNB Dubai – Johannesburg 6,413 km3,985 mi · 8 h 25 min JNBPER Johannesburg – Perth 8,310 km5,163 mi · 9 h 40 min JNBSYD Johannesburg – Sydney 11,024 km6,850 mi · 12 h 35 min ATLJNB Atlanta – Johannesburg 13,583 km8,440 mi · 15 h 55 min

Routes of a similar length

MEXMAD Mexico City – Madrid 9,065 km5,633 mi · 10 h 30 min SFOICN San Francisco – Seoul 9,085 km5,645 mi · 12 h 20 min LAXCDG Los Angeles – Paris 9,103 km5,656 mi · 10 h 50 min DXBPER Dubai – Perth 9,041 km5,618 mi · 11 h 05 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).