JetSetAuthority

Route · Caribbean, Mexico, Central and South America

MEX Mexico City ⇄ MAD Madrid

Mexico City Benito Juárez International Airport (Mexico) and Adolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Airport (Spain): great-circle distance, estimated scheduled flight time each way, time difference and jet lag.

Distance9,065 km5,633 mi4,895 nautical miles
MEX → MAD10 h 30 minestimated block time
MAD → MEX12 h 20 minestimated block time
Clock change+7 hMadrid vs Mexico City, today
Great-circle route from Mexico City (MEX) to Madrid (MAD)MEXMexico CityMADMadrid
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

MEX → MAD

10 h 30 min

Estimated gate-to-gate scheduled time. Initial heading 50° (NE).

Leave Mexico City Sat 7 Nov, 10:00 local → arrive Madrid Sun 8 Nov, 03:30 local +1 day.

MAD → MEX

12 h 20 min

Estimated gate-to-gate scheduled time. Initial heading 288° (WNW).

Leave Madrid Sat 7 Nov, 10:00 local → arrive Mexico City Sat 7 Nov, 15:20 local.

MEX-bound flights are the slower direction by about 110 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 distance9,065 km · 5,633 mi · 4,895 nmi
Initial heading50° (NE) from MEX; 288° (WNW) from MAD
Farthest from the equator43.8°N — the path arcs north of both airports
Crossesneither the equator nor the 180th meridian
Share of the longest possible trip45% of the 20,015 km to the far side of the Earth

Time zones and jet lag

MEXAmerica/Mexico_City — UTC−6 now; UTC−6 all year (no daylight saving time)
MADEurope/Madrid — UTC+1 now; UTC+1 standard time, UTC+2 during daylight saving time
DifferenceMadrid is 7 hours ahead of Mexico City today; +7 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 MEX → MAD. Your body clock has to move 7 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 7 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

MEX Mexico City Benito Juárez International AirportMexico City, Mexico · longest runway 12,966 ft3,952 m MAD Adolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas AirportMadrid, Spain · longest runway 14,271 ft4,350 m

More routes from MEX and MAD

MEXGDL Mexico City – Guadalajara 459 km285 mi · 1 h 35 min IAHMEX Houston – Mexico City 1,232 km765 mi · 2 h 30 min MEXCUN Mexico City – Cancún 1,285 km798 mi · 2 h 25 min LAXMEX Los Angeles – Mexico City 2,500 km1,554 mi · 3 h 45 min BOGMEX Bogotá – Mexico City 3,159 km1,963 mi · 4 h 45 min MEXCDG Mexico City – Paris 9,199 km5,716 mi · 10 h 45 min MADBCN Madrid – Barcelona 483 km300 mi · 1 h 35 min CDGMAD Paris – Madrid 1,062 km660 mi · 2 h 20 min AMSMAD Amsterdam – Madrid 1,459 km906 mi · 2 h 45 min MIAMAD Miami – Madrid 7,106 km4,415 mi · 8 h 25 min GRUMAD São Paulo – Madrid 8,378 km5,206 mi · 10 h 20 min SCLMAD Santiago – Madrid 10,719 km6,661 mi · 12 h 50 min

Routes of a similar length

LHRJNB London – Johannesburg 9,075 km5,639 mi · 11 h 10 min SFOICN San Francisco – Seoul 9,085 km5,645 mi · 12 h 20 min DXBPER Dubai – Perth 9,041 km5,618 mi · 11 h 05 min LAXCDG Los Angeles – Paris 9,103 km5,656 mi · 10 h 50 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).