Nonstop flight route between Fletcher, North Carolina, United States and Cape Town, South Africa:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Asheville Regional Airport (AVL), Fletcher, North Carolina, United States and Cape Town International Airport (CPT), Cape Town, South Africa would travel a Great Circle distance of 8,086 miles (or 13,013 kilometers).

A Great Circle is the shortest distance between 2 points on a sphere. Because most world maps are flat (but the Earth is round), the route of the shortest distance between 2 points on the Earth will often appear curved when viewed on a flat map, especially for long distances. If you were to simply draw a straight line on a flat map and measure a very long distance, it would likely be much further than if you were to lay a string between those two points on a globe. Because of the large distance between Asheville Regional Airport and Cape Town International Airport, the route shown on this map most likely appears curved because of this reason.

Try it at home! Get a globe and tightly lay a string between Asheville Regional Airport and Cape Town International Airport. You'll see that it will travel the same route of the red line on this map!

Departure Airport Information:

Arrival Airport Information:

Facts about Asheville Regional Airport (AVL):

• Asheville Regional Airport covers 900 acres and has one runway, 16/34, 8,001 x 150 ft asphalt.
• A Concorde visited AVL during a 1987 promotional tour and was snowed-in overnight.
• Asheville Regional Airport (AVL) currently has only 1 runway.
• The terminal building opened on June 7, 1961.
• On October 27, 2004, a Beechcraft Duke crashed about 0.8 of a mile off the departure end of Runway 34 after an apparent right engine failure, killing all 4 people on board.
• On May 4, 2007 a 1977 Cessna 182 en route to Asheville Regional Airport crashed near the airport, killing three Georgia men.
• The furthest airport from Asheville Regional Airport (AVL) is Margaret River Airport (MGV), which is located 11,430 miles (18,395 kilometers) away in Margaret River, Western Australia, Australia.
• The closest airport to Asheville Regional Airport (AVL) is Greenville–Spartanburg International Airport (GSP), which is located 42 miles (67 kilometers) SSE of AVL.
• In April 2010 President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama landed in Asheville aboard Air Force One for a weekend getaway.

Facts about Cape Town International Airport (CPT):

• Because of Cape Town International Airport's relatively low elevation of 151 feet, planes can take off or land at Cape Town International Airport at a lower air speed than at airports located at a higher elevation. This is because the air density is higher closer to sea level than it would otherwise be at higher elevations.
• Cape Town International Airport recorded 7.8 million passengers in 2008–2009, down from 8.4 million passengers the year before.
• The furthest airport from Cape Town International Airport (CPT) is Princeville Airport (HPV), which is located 11,616 miles (18,693 kilometers) away in Hanalei, Hawaii, United States.
• Arriving passengers collect luggage in the old sections of their respective terminals, before proceeding through new passageways to the new Central Terminal Building.
• There is no direct rail access to Cape Town International Airport.
• Cape Town International Airport (CPT) has 2 runways.
• The closest airport to Cape Town International Airport (CPT) is George Airport (GRJ), which is located 217 miles (349 kilometers) E of CPT.
• With the fall of apartheid in the early 1990s, ownership of the airport was transferred from the state to the newly formed Airports Company South Africa, and the airport was renamed to the politically neutral Cape Town International Airport.
• Cape Town International Airport was opened in 1954, a year after Jan Smuts Airport on the Witwatersrand opened.
• Cape Town International Airport handled 8,505,563 passengers last year.