How Long Is the Flight to Australia?

Quick answer: the flight to Australia (Sydney) is about 21 h 4 min in the air from New York and 15 h 58 min from Los Angeles, non-stop; a connection adds its layover. Of the busiest US airports, San Francisco is the closest at 15 h 50 min and Boston the farthest at 21 h 22 min. Flying home from Los Angeles is 1 h 23 min shorter.

Pick two airports. See the distance, about how long a non-stop flight takes, and what time it will be when you land.

JFK → LHR · non-stop

7 h 11 minAbout 7 h 11 min gate to gate for 3,442 miles (5,540 km). Most scheduled flights of this length: 6 h 56 min to 7 h 26 min.

Distance: 3,442 mi
Lands: pick a date and time

The flight back, westbound into the jet stream, is slower: about 7 h 48 min.
An estimate from the scheduled times of 5,797 US routes (US DOT, 2026-06): half of them are within 7 minutes of it. Your airline’s schedule is the real answer.

Airports from OurAirports, time zones from mwgg/Airports, flight times fitted on US DOT schedules. An estimate for a non-stop: check your airline.

The calculator above opens on New York to Sydney: change either airport to yours, or add a date and a departure time for the local time you land. Below, the flight from each of the busiest US airports.

How long is the flight to Australia from each US airport?

The FAA’s busiest US airports by passengers in 2024, the quickest first. Times are the estimated gate-to-gate time of a non-stop; the clock change is Australia’s time minus the airport’s, in January and in July.

From	Distance	To Sydney	Flight back	Clock change (Jan / Jul)
San Francisco (SFO)	7,425 mi	15 h 50 min	14 h 30 min	+19 h / +17 h
Los Angeles (LAX)	7,495 mi	15 h 58 min	14 h 35 min	+19 h / +17 h
Las Vegas (LAS)	7,727 mi	16 h 27 min	15 h 1 min	+19 h / +17 h
Seattle (SEA)	7,750 mi	16 h 30 min	15 h 11 min	+19 h / +17 h
Phoenix (PHX)	7,804 mi	16 h 37 min	15 h 8 min	+18 h / +17 h
Denver (DEN)	8,354 mi	17 h 46 min	16 h 11 min	+18 h / +16 h
Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW)	8,580 mi	18 h 13 min	16 h 32 min	+17 h / +15 h
Houston (IAH)	8,597 mi	18 h 15 min	16 h 32 min	+17 h / +15 h
Minneapolis (MSP)	9,009 mi	19 h 8 min	17 h 25 min	+17 h / +15 h
Chicago O’Hare (ORD)	9,235 mi	19 h 36 min	17 h 47 min	+17 h / +15 h
Atlanta (ATL)	9,285 mi	19 h 40 min	17 h 48 min	+16 h / +14 h
Miami (MIA)	9,334 mi	19 h 44 min	17 h 51 min	+16 h / +14 h
Orlando (MCO)	9,344 mi	19 h 46 min	17 h 53 min	+16 h / +14 h
Fort Lauderdale (FLL)	9,350 mi	19 h 46 min	17 h 53 min	+16 h / +14 h
Detroit (DTW)	9,468 mi	20 h 5 min	18 h 13 min	+16 h / +14 h
Charlotte (CLT)	9,506 mi	20 h 8 min	18 h 12 min	+16 h / +14 h
Newark (EWR)	9,930 mi	21 h 1 min	19 h 2 min	+16 h / +14 h
New York JFK (JFK)	9,950 mi	21 h 4 min	19 h 4 min	+16 h / +14 h
Boston (BOS)	10,098 mi	21 h 22 min	19 h 22 min	+16 h / +14 h

Every route are longer than any US route the estimate was measured on (4,983 miles), so treat those as a rough guide: the longer the flight, the more the wind moves it. LaGuardia, the 19th busiest, is left out: its flights are short-haul, and New York’s long flights leave from JFK and Newark.

Why the flight home is shorter

From Los Angeles the flight to Sydney is about 15 h 58 min and the flight back 14 h 35 min. The difference is the jet stream, the band of west-to-east wind at cruising height: flying east you ride it, flying west you fly into it. The estimate carries that as a single measured effect of how far east a route goes, which is why the two directions of the same route differ.

What the clock says when you land

Australia is 16 hours ahead of New York in January and 14 hours ahead of New York in July, when US clocks are on summer time; 19 hours ahead of Los Angeles in January and 17 hours ahead of Los Angeles in July. Leave Los Angeles at noon on Wednesday, July 15, and a non-stop would land in Sydney at about 8:58 p.m. the next day, Thursday, local time.

Flying into another airport

This page measures to Sydney (SYD). To Melbourne (MEL) it is about 21 h 55 min from New York and 16 h 50 min from Los Angeles; to Brisbane (BNE) it is about 20 h 25 min from New York and 15 h 20 min from Los Angeles.

Is there a non-stop?

Not from every airport in the table: the times are what a non-stop would take, and a connection adds its layover. Your airline’s schedule says which airports fly to Australia non-stop. For any pair of airports, the calculator above gives the distance and the time.

Plan it

FAQ

How long is the flight to Australia?

About 21 h 4 min non-stop from New York and 15 h 58 min from Los Angeles. Of the busiest US airports, San Francisco is the closest at 15 h 50 min and Boston the farthest at 21 h 22 min. All are estimates of a non-stop; a connection adds its layover.

How long is the flight to Australia from New York?

About 21 h 4 min from JFK and 21 h 1 min from Newark, for 9,950 miles to Sydney. The flight back to New York is 2 h shorter: about 19 h 4 min.

How long is the flight to Australia from Los Angeles?

About 15 h 58 min from LAX, and 15 h 50 min from San Francisco, for 7,495 miles. The flight back is 1 h 23 min shorter: about 14 h 35 min.

What is the time difference between Australia and the US?

How these times are made

Distances are great circles between the airports (OurAirports). Times come from one line fitted to the median scheduled gate-to-gate time of 5,797 US routes (US DOT, 2026-06): a fixed allowance, a time per mile, and a correction for how far east the route goes. Half of those routes are within 7 minutes of it. The busiest airports are the FAA’s 2024 passenger boardings. Your airline’s schedule is the real answer: winds, routings and the season move it by a few minutes on a short flight and by more on a long one.