Nonstop flight route between Oxfordshire, England, United Kingdom and Shellharbour, Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between RAF Brize Norton (BZZ), Oxfordshire, England, United Kingdom and Illawarra Regional Airport (WOL), Shellharbour, Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia would travel a Great Circle distance of 10,626 miles (or 17,101 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 RAF Brize Norton and Illawarra Regional 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 RAF Brize Norton and Illawarra Regional 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 RAF Brize Norton (BZZ):

• Brize Norton is already a major airbase for the RAF's transport fleet.
• On 19 September 2005, Brize Norton was closed as part of a major upgrade project.
• AirTanker Services is operating the RAF's Airbus A330 MRTT to provide aerial re-fuelling services at Brize Norton.
• The furthest airport from RAF Brize Norton (BZZ) is Dunedin International Airport (DUD), which is located 11,888 miles (19,132 kilometers) away in Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand.
• Like many UK military bases RAF Brize Norton has been subject to limited protests by peace demonstrators.
• The closest airport to RAF Brize Norton (BZZ) is RAF Fairford (FFD), which is located only 10 miles (16 kilometers) WSW of BZZ.
• By the 1950s Cold War tension was escalating and the United States envisaged stationing nuclear bombers in the United Kingdom as a deterrent to Soviet aggression.
• In 1970 two squadrons 99 Squadron and 511 Squadron operating the Bristol Britannia moved from RAF Lyneham.
• RAF Brize Norton was opened in 1937 as a training station and one of the first squadrons to use the airfield was No.
• To accommodate this expansion, a major infrastructure redevelopment, "Programme Future Brize" was established in 2009.

Facts about Illawarra Regional Airport (WOL):

• The primary runway is 16/34, with a paved surface measuring 1,819 m × 30 m.
• Because of Illawarra Regional Airport's relatively low elevation of 31 feet, planes can take off or land at Illawarra Regional 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.
• Illawarra Regional Airport, owned and operated by Shellharbour City Council, is located at the intersection of the F6, Princes Highway and Illawarra Highway at Albion Park Rail.
• In addition to being known as "Illawarra Regional Airport", another name for WOL is "Wollongong Airport".
• The Illawarra Regional Airport provides a cost effective alternative to the Sydney Basin airports for light aircraft users.
• The furthest airport from Illawarra Regional Airport (WOL) is Horta International Airport (HOR), which is nearly antipodal to Illawarra Regional Airport (meaning Illawarra Regional Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Horta International Airport), and is located 12,162 miles (19,573 kilometers) away in Horta, Azores, Portugal.
• Following the war, Trans Australia Airlines and Australian National Airways linked the airport with Canberra and Melbourne until 1950.
• The closest airport to Illawarra Regional Airport (WOL) is Camden Aerodrome (CDU), which is located 36 miles (59 kilometers) N of WOL.
• Illawarra Regional Airport (WOL) has 2 runways.