JetSetAuthority

Route · Europe to Asia and Africa

LHR London ⇄ MLE Malé

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

Distance8,539 km5,306 mi4,610 nautical miles
LHR → MLE10 h 15 minestimated block time
MLE → LHR11 h 20 minestimated block time
Clock change+5 hMalé vs London, today
Great-circle route from London (LHR) to Malé (MLE)LHRLondonMLEMalé
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 → MLE

10 h 15 min

Estimated gate-to-gate scheduled time. Initial heading 100° (E).

Leave London Sat 7 Nov, 10:00 local → arrive Malé Sun 8 Nov, 01:15 local +1 day.

MLE → LHR

11 h 20 min

Estimated gate-to-gate scheduled time. Initial heading 322° (NW).

Leave Malé Sat 7 Nov, 10:00 local → arrive London Sat 7 Nov, 16:20 local.

LHR-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 distance8,539 km · 5,306 mi · 4,610 nmi
Initial heading100° (E) from LHR; 322° (NW) from MLE
Farthest from the equator51.5°N
Crossesneither the equator nor the 180th meridian
Share of the longest possible trip43% 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
MLEIndian/Maldives — UTC+5 now; UTC+5 all year (no daylight saving time)
DifferenceMalé is 5 hours ahead of London 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 LHR → MLE. 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

LHR London Heathrow AirportLondon, United Kingdom · longest runway 12,799 ft3,901 m MLE Velana International AirportMalé, Maldives · longest runway 11,155 ft3,400 m

More routes from LHR and MLE

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 CMBMLE Colombo – Malé 778 km483 mi · 1 h 55 min BOMMLE Mumbai – Malé 1,658 km1,030 mi · 2 h 55 min DXBMLE Dubai – Malé 3,040 km1,889 mi · 4 h 25 min

Routes of a similar length

FRAICN Frankfurt – Seoul 8,544 km5,309 mi · 10 h 15 min FRACUN Frankfurt – Cancún 8,605 km5,347 mi · 11 h 40 min JFKLOS New York – Lagos 8,444 km5,247 mi · 10 h 05 min IAHFRA Houston – Frankfurt 8,402 km5,221 mi · 9 h 55 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).