✈ ORD → CPT
17H 4M FLIGHT. YOU WILL FORGET WHAT GRASS LOOKS LIKE.
Flight from Chicago to Cape Town
From O'Hare (ORD), USA North America → Cape Town International (CPT), South Africa Africa
How long is the flight from Chicago to Cape Town?
A nonstop flight from Chicago (ORD) to Cape Town (CPT) takes about 17 hours 4 minutes, covering a great-circle distance of 8,518 miles (13,709 km). Actual scheduled time varies by airline, routing, and wind — expect ±15 to 30 minutes from this estimate.
Avg flight time
17h 4m
Nonstop, scheduled
Distance
8,518 mi
13,709 km · great-circle
Avg speed
803 km/h
Door-to-door including taxi
Time zones & jet lag
Chicago timezone
UTC-5
America/Chicago
Cape Town timezone
UTC+2
Africa/Johannesburg
Time difference
+7h
7 hours ahead
Jet lag (rough)
~7d
Eastward — worse
CO₂ footprint per passenger
Economy class, single passenger. Source: DEFRA 2024 averages.
This flight emits roughly 3.6× the CO₂ of an equivalent train trip and 0.9× a car driven alone over the same distance.