Nonstop flight route between Bilbao, Spain and Ketchikan, Alaska, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Bilbao Airport (BIO), Bilbao, Spain and Ketchikan International Airport (KTN), Ketchikan, Alaska, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,992 miles (or 8,033 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 Bilbao Airport and Ketchikan 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 Bilbao Airport and Ketchikan 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 Bilbao Airport (BIO):

• In February 2009 plans were announced to expand the terminal building, the facilities and the car parking so as to double the current capacity to 8 million passengers.
• In addition to being known as "Bilbao Airport", another name for BIO is "Bilboko aireportua (eu) Aeropuerto de Bilbao (es)".
• Because of Bilbao Airport's relatively low elevation of 137 feet, planes can take off or land at Bilbao 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.
• The closest airport to Bilbao Airport (BIO) is Vitoria-Gasteiz Airport (VIT), which is located 30 miles (49 kilometers) SSE of BIO.
• In 1996, a new taxiway with two rapid exits and a new aircraft parking apron were built.
• With the past increase of traffic, the terminal would have become saturated again in a year because it is designed to handle about 4.5 million passengers per year, in 2007 it went nearly to its maximum capacity.
• During the eighties, the ILS landing system entered into service for runway 10/28.
• Bilbao Airport handled 3,800,789 passengers last year.
• There has been some criticism of Santiago Calatrava's design by Aena, the Spanish airport authority, because it seems difficult to make further enlargements in the terminal's capacity because the design is too closed.
• Bilbao Airport (BIO) has 2 runways.
• The furthest airport from Bilbao Airport (BIO) is Hood Aerodrome (MRO), which is nearly antipodal to Bilbao Airport (meaning Bilbao Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Hood Aerodrome), and is located 12,260 miles (19,730 kilometers) away in Masterton, New Zealand.

Facts about Ketchikan International Airport (KTN):

• As per Federal Aviation Administration records, the airport had 108,837 passenger boardings in calendar year 2008, 96,996 enplanements in 2009, and 100,138 in 2010.
• Ketchikan International Airport (KTN) has 2 runways.
• Because of Ketchikan International Airport's relatively low elevation of 89 feet, planes can take off or land at Ketchikan 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.
• The closest airport to Ketchikan International Airport (KTN) is Ketchikan Harbor Seaplane Base (WFB), which is located only 2 miles (3 kilometers) ESE of KTN.
• There is no road access between Ketchikan and the airport.
• The furthest airport from Ketchikan International Airport (KTN) is Port Alfred Airport (AFD), which is located 10,613 miles (17,081 kilometers) away in Port Alfred, South Africa.
• Ketchikan International Airport covers an area of 2,600 acres at an elevation of 89 feet above mean sea level.