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):

• With the closure of RAF Lyneham taking place in late 2011, the repatriation of British personnel was relocated to Brize Norton on 8 September 2011.
• The closest airport to RAF Brize Norton (BZZ) is RAF Fairford (FFD), which is located only 10 miles (16 kilometers) WSW of BZZ.
• On 23 May 2001 the RAF's first C-17 arrived at Brize Norton, one of six to be delivered to 99 Squadron.
• The Hercules fleet at RAF Lyneham officially moved to Brize Norton on 1 July 2011.
• By 1950 the USAF Strategic Air Command was based at RAF Lakenheath, RAF Marham, and RAF Sculthorpe.
• 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.
• RAF Brize Norton Flying Club resides at the station providing low cost flying for MOD personnel and training to PPL level and above.
• Major infrastructure redevelopment began in 2010 ahead of the closure of RAF Lyneham in 2012, at which point Brize Norton became the sole air point of embarkation for British troops.
• By the end of June 2011 all flying units from RAF Lyneham had moved to RAF Brize Norton.

Facts about Illawarra Regional Airport (WOL):

• Illawarra Regional Airport (WOL) has 2 runways.
• Despite the length of the runway being sufficient for operating large passenger jets such as the Boeing 737, the pavements are currently only suitable for aircraft with a Maximum Takeoff Weight not exceeding 25,000 kilograms.
• In addition to being known as "Illawarra Regional Airport", another name for WOL is "Wollongong Airport".
• The closest airport to Illawarra Regional Airport (WOL) is Camden Aerodrome (CDU), which is located 36 miles (59 kilometers) N of WOL.
• 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.
• The Illawarra Regional Airport provides a cost effective alternative to the Sydney Basin airports for light aircraft users.
• 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.