Nonstop flight route between Butterworth, Penang, Malaysia and Phoenix, Arizona, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between RMAF Butterworth (BWH), Butterworth, Penang, Malaysia and Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX), Phoenix, Arizona, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 9,014 miles (or 14,506 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 RMAF Butterworth and Phoenix Sky Harbor 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 RMAF Butterworth and Phoenix Sky Harbor 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 RMAF Butterworth (BWH):

• Because of RMAF Butterworth's relatively low elevation of 8 feet, planes can take off or land at RMAF Butterworth 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.
• During the Malayan Emergency that was to last from 1948 to 1960, RAF as well as RAAF and RNZAF units stationed at the airfield played an active role from 1950 in helping to curb the communist insurgency in the jungles of Malaya by attacking suspected hideouts and harassing the communist guerrillas.
• The closest airport to RMAF Butterworth (BWH) is RMAF Butterworth (UTE), which is located only 0 mile (0 kilometer) N of BWH.
• On 30 June 1988, the airfield was handed over by RAAF to the Royal Malaysian Air Force and was renamed as RMAF Station Butterworth.
• RMAF Butterworth (BWH) currently has only 1 runway.
• In addition to being known as "RMAF Butterworth", another name for BWH is "TUDM Butterworth".
• The furthest airport from RMAF Butterworth (BWH) is Cap. FAP Guillermo Concha Iberico International Airport (PIU), which is nearly antipodal to RMAF Butterworth (meaning RMAF Butterworth is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Cap. FAP Guillermo Concha Iberico International Airport), and is located 12,365 miles (19,900 kilometers) away in Piura, Peru.
• RAF Butterworth was officially opened in October 1941, as a Royal Air Force station which was a part of the British defence plan for defending the Malayan Peninsula against an imminent threat of invasion by the Imperial Japanese forces during World War II.

Facts about Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX):

• The furthest airport from Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX) is Sir Gaëtan Duval Airport (RRG), which is located 11,450 miles (18,427 kilometers) away in Rodrigues Island, Mauritius.
• The $835,000 Terminal 1 which also had the first control tower, opened in October 1952.
• The airport's current 326-foot tall air traffic control tower began operations on January 14, 2007.
• America West filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 1991 and sold its larger aircraft and Japanese route authority, but continued growing its domestic operations from Terminal 4 in cooperation with Continental Airlines.
• After the war the airport began work on a new passenger terminal, as well as a new parallel runway and a diagonal runway.
• Sky Harbor's private airplane area is also one of eight service centers for the Medevac airline Air Evac.
• The airport is the primary regional hub and gateway for Mexican and Hawaiian departures for Tempe-based US Airways and is a focus city for Southwest Airlines.
• British Airways provides the airport's only nonstop service to London-Heathrow, as well as the only passenger flights on a Boeing 747 involving the airport.
• Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX) has 3 runways.
• After airline deregulation in 1978 former Hughes Airwest executive Ed Beauvais formed a plan for a new airline based in Phoenix.
• The closest airport to Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX) is Scottsdale Airport (SCF), which is located only 14 miles (23 kilometers) NNE of PHX.
• Terminal 2 is expected to close after the completion of the Terminal 3 South Concourse expansion.