Distance from Johannesburg to Shanghai

Flying the shortest possible route, Shanghai lies 11,780 km (7,320 miles, 6,360 nautical miles) from Johannesburg — the great-circle distance between their coordinates.

The numbers
Great-circle distance
11,780 km · 7,320 mi · 6,360 nmi
Initial bearing Johannesburg → Shanghai
63° (ENE)
Initial bearing Shanghai → Johannesburg
249° (WSW)
Nonstop flight (rough estimate)
≈ 14 h 31 min
Time zones
Johannesburg UTC+02:00 · Shanghai UTC+08:00 (+6 h)
Sunrise gap today
448 min — the sun rises later in Johannesburg

Flight time is a cruise-speed approximation (no routing/wind); driving distance depends on roads and is typically 20–40% longer than great-circle.

The two cities
Johannesburg
-26.2023, 28.0436
Sunrise / sunset today
04:43 UTC / 15:45 UTC
Shanghai
31.2222, 121.4581
Sunrise / sunset today
21:16 UTC / 10:46 UTC

Open in the distance calculator Find the halfway point

Distances here are straight-line (great-circle). Road routes typically run 1.2–1.4× longer — here's why, with the visual.