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Route · Europe to Asia and Africa

LHR London ⇄ PVG Shanghai

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

Distance9,241 km5,742 mi4,990 nautical miles
LHR → PVG11 hestimated block time
PVG → LHR12 h 10 minestimated block time
Clock change+8 hShanghai vs London, today
Great-circle route from London (LHR) to Shanghai (PVG)LHRLondonPVGShanghai
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 → PVG

11 h

Estimated gate-to-gate scheduled time. Initial heading 47° (NE).

Leave London Sat 7 Nov, 10:00 local → arrive Shanghai Sun 8 Nov, 05:00 local +1 day.

PVG → LHR

12 h 10 min

Estimated gate-to-gate scheduled time. Initial heading 328° (NNW).

Leave Shanghai Sat 7 Nov, 10:00 local → arrive London Sat 7 Nov, 14:10 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 distance9,241 km · 5,742 mi · 4,990 nmi
Initial heading47° (NE) from LHR; 328° (NNW) from PVG
Farthest from the equator63.0°N — the path arcs north of both airports
Crossesneither the equator nor the 180th meridian
Share of the longest possible trip46% 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
PVGAsia/Shanghai — UTC+8 now; UTC+8 all year (no daylight saving time)
DifferenceShanghai is 8 hours ahead of London today; +8 h in January and +7 h in July because daylight saving time starts and ends on different dates (or not at all).

Jet lag, flying LHR → PVG. Your body clock has to move 8 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 8 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 PVG Shanghai Pudong International AirportShanghai, China · longest runway 13,123 ft4,000 m

More routes from LHR and PVG

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 PEKPVG Beijing – Shanghai 1,099 km683 mi · 2 h 15 min PVGHKG Shanghai – Hong Kong 1,255 km780 mi · 2 h 35 min PVGNRT Shanghai – Tokyo 1,796 km1,116 mi · 2 h 55 min FRAPVG Frankfurt – Shanghai 8,859 km5,505 mi · 10 h 30 min YVRPVG Vancouver – Shanghai 9,016 km5,602 mi · 12 h LAXPVG Los Angeles – Shanghai 10,415 km6,472 mi · 14 h

Routes of a similar length

HELSIN Helsinki – Singapore 9,275 km5,763 mi · 11 h 05 min MEXCDG Mexico City – Paris 9,199 km5,716 mi · 10 h 45 min LAXFRA Los Angeles – Frankfurt 9,322 km5,792 mi · 11 h 05 min SFOFRA San Francisco – Frankfurt 9,149 km5,685 mi · 11 h

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).