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Wellington to Buenos Aires flight path

WLG → AEPWLGAEP
The shortest path on the sphere. On a flat map it looks curved; on the globe it is a straight line.

Along the shortest route, the flight from Wellington to Buenos Aires covers 6,200 miles (9,980 km) — about 12 h 00 min with no wind. It crosses the Cook Strait and the Pacific Ocean: 81% of the route is over water. Today you leave on UTC+13 and land on UTC−3.

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From Wellington International Airport (WLG) to Aeroparque Jorge Newbery (AEP) · WLG · AEP

WLGWellington
AEPBuenos Aires
Great-circle distance
9,980 km
Duration, no wind
12 h 00 min
Over water
81 %
Time difference today
−16 h

The route drawn is the theoretical one — the shortest path on the sphere. The real aircraft follows airways, avoids storms and closed airspace, and rides the wind: it can be hundreds of kilometres off.

What countries do you fly over from Wellington to Buenos Aires?

  • New Zealand
  • Argentina
  • Cook Strait
  • Pacific Ocean

Which side of the plane to sit on to see Monte San Valentin

To see Monte San Valentin (4,058 m), sit on the left: it lies about 52 km from the route, ≈ 9 h 35 min into the flight.

Left window
  • Monte San Valentin (4,058 m) ≈ 9 h 35 min
Right window
  • Bahía Blanca ≈ 11 h 05 min

Left and right facing forward, on the theoretical route. Times are from take-off, with no wind.

Leg by leg

2 h4 h6 h8 h10 hUTC−3UTC+13Cook StraitNew ZealandAndesPampasMonte San Valentin 4,058 m 52 kmBahía Blanca 15 kmWLGAEP▲ Left window▼ Right window◀ Left windowRight window ▶2 h4 h6 h8 h10 hUTC−3Cook StraitNew ZealandAndesPampasMonte San Valentin4,058 m · 52 kmBahía Blanca15 km off routeWLGAEPUTC+13

LandWaterCity, with its distance from the routePeakClock change

See the full list, leg by leg
  1. Take-off from Wellington International Airport
  2. Cook Strait and Pacific Ocean — 8,020 km without land0 km · ≈ 15 min into the flight
  3. Below: New Zealand0 km · ≈ 15 min into the flight
  4. Below: Polynesia133 km · ≈ 25 min into the flight
  5. Local time below changes: UTC+13 to UTC−37,850 km · ≈ 9 h 15 min into the flight
  6. Below: Andes8,020 km · ≈ 9 h 30 min into the flight
  7. Land again8,020 km · ≈ 9 h 30 min into the flight
  8. Monte San Valentin, 4,058 m — on the left, 52 km away8,150 km · ≈ 9 h 35 min into the flight
  9. Below: Pampas9,310 km · ≈ 10 h 55 min into the flight
  10. Bahía Blanca, Argentina — on the right, 15 km away9,400 km · ≈ 11 h 05 min into the flight
  11. Landing at Aeroparque Jorge Newbery9,980 km · ≈ 11 h 45 min into the flight

Times assume a typical jet speed, no wind and an on-time departure. Good for orientation, not for your watch.

Which side the sun, sunrise or sunset will be on

Enter the day and take-off time. Your phone does the maths: the sun's position on every leg of the route, relative to the nose of the aircraft.

Take-offLanding

Sky: light is daytime, amber is sunrise or sunset, dark is night. Left and Right show which side the sun is on for each leg.

Follow the route offline in airplane mode

All of this on board and with no signal: with your phone in airplane mode, Modo Avión shows where you are, what's below and how long is left. GPS still works, because it only listens to satellites.

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Arriving in Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires · Photo: ProtoplasmaKid · CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons

Flight time and distance

About 12 h 00 min with no wind, including half an hour of taxi, climb and descent. On a long flight the wind aloft can change that by more than an hour, differently each way.

6,200 miles (9,980 km, 5,390 nautical miles) along the great circle. The real flight covers a little more because it follows airways.

Time zones you cross

kmTimeZone
0 kmUTC+13Auckland
7,850 kmUTC−3Coyhaique

Airspace (FIRs) along the route

Each is a control region: when the aircraft crosses the boundary, the centre talking to the pilot changes. Boundaries are approximate, from the VATSIM data set, not the official ICAO chart.

  • Christchurch (Taranaki)
  • Auckland Radio
  • McMurdo (Mac)
  • Pascua
  • Punta Arenas
  • Puerto Montt
  • Comodoro Rivadavia
  • Ezeiza

FAQ

Where does the plane fly from Wellington to Buenos Aires?

Along the shortest route, the flight from Wellington to Buenos Aires covers 6,200 miles (9,980 km) — about 12 h 00 min with no wind. It crosses the Cook Strait and the Pacific Ocean: 81% of the route is over water. Today you leave on UTC+13 and land on UTC−3.

What countries do you fly over from Wellington to Buenos Aires?

It passes over or close to New Zealand and Argentina, and crosses the Cook Strait and the Pacific Ocean. This is the theoretical route: the aircraft may deviate for wind or closed airspace.

How long is the flight from Wellington to Buenos Aires?

About 12 h 00 min with no wind, including half an hour of taxi, climb and descent. On a long flight the wind aloft can change that by more than an hour, differently each way.

How far is Wellington from Buenos Aires by plane?

6,200 miles (9,980 km, 5,390 nautical miles) along the great circle. The real flight covers a little more because it follows airways.

How much of the flight is over water?

81% of the route, about 8,050 km. The longest stretch without land is 8,020 km.

Why doesn't the plane fly in a straight line on the map?

It does fly straight — on a sphere. On a flat map the shortest path looks curved; on the globe on this page it looks like what it is.

Does GPS work in airplane mode?

Yes. GPS is a receiver: it listens to satellites and transmits nothing, so it keeps working in airplane mode. What you won't have is a map unless you downloaded it; Modo Avión carries its own.

More routes

The way back: Buenos Aires → Wellington

Look up another route

How this was calculated

The route is the great-circle arc between both airports, split into 300 points. At each point a point-in-polygon test runs against 1,102 airspace regions, 418 time zones and 1,338 physical geography regions. Countries are those with a town within 25 km of the route: in empty areas one may be missing. Cities named have over 250,000 people and lie within 110 km.

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