Nonstop flight route between Houston, Texas, United States and Coolangatta, Queensland, Australia:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Ellington Field Joint Reserve BaseEllington Air Force BaseEllington Field (EFD), Houston, Texas, United States and Gold Coast Airport (OOL), Coolangatta, Queensland, Australia would travel a Great Circle distance of 8,347 miles (or 13,433 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 Ellington Field Joint Reserve BaseEllington Air Force BaseEllington Field and Gold Coast 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 Ellington Field Joint Reserve BaseEllington Air Force BaseEllington Field and Gold Coast 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 Ellington Field Joint Reserve BaseEllington Air Force BaseEllington Field (EFD):

• Ellington Field Joint Reserve Base is a joint installation shared by various active component and reserve component military units, as well as aircraft flight operations of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration under the aegis of the nearby Johnson Space Center.
• In 1925 General William Mitchell conducted a "flying tour" of all National Guard Observation Squadrons throughout the United States.
• Ellington was considered surplus to requirements after World War I and the base was inactivated as an active duty airfield in January 1920.
• In 1948, Ellington Airport was one of many airfields selected to be reactivated in an effort to maintain a large military force in the United States after World War II.
• The United States Air Force's 147th Reconnaissance Wing is an Air National Guard unit operationally-gained by the Air Combat Command.
• In addition to being known as "Ellington Field Joint Reserve BaseEllington Air Force BaseEllington Field", another name for EFD is "Ellington Field JRB".
• The closest airport to Ellington Field Joint Reserve BaseEllington Air Force BaseEllington Field (EFD) is William P. Hobby Airport (HOU), which is located only 8 miles (12 kilometers) WNW of EFD.
• In May 1923, the War Department had ordered the small caretaker force at Ellington Field to dismantle all remaining structures and to sell them as surplus.
• Several years later in 1927, Ellington's status was again threatened as local city leaders began to discuss the construction of a municipal airport.
• Ellington Field was the site for advanced flight training for bomber pilots.
• The furthest airport from Ellington Field Joint Reserve BaseEllington Air Force BaseEllington Field (EFD) is Cocos (Keeling) Island Airport (CCK), which is located 11,008 miles (17,716 kilometers) away in Cocos Islands, Australia.

Facts about Gold Coast Airport (OOL):

• Gold Coast Airport handled 5,261,773 passengers last year.
• For the 2010–11 financial year, Gold Coast Airport was the sixth busiest airport in Australia in terms of passengers and eighth in aircraftmovements.
• Because of Gold Coast Airport's relatively low elevation of 21 feet, planes can take off or land at Gold Coast 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 furthest airport from Gold Coast Airport (OOL) is La Palma Airport (SPC), which is located 11,905 miles (19,159 kilometers) away in La Palma, Canary Islands, Spain.
• In 1990 the airport welcomed its first international charter service from New Zealand, and by 1999 Air New Zealand low-cost subsidiary Freedom Air started scheduled no-frills service from Hamilton, New Zealand with Boeing 737s.
• Gold Coast Airport (OOL) has 2 runways.
• The airport opened an extension to the main runway as well as a full length parallel taxiway in May 2007.
• On 13 August 2012 Qantas announced that it will return to Gold Coast, flying from Sydney three times daily using a Boeing 737-800.
• On 30 March 2011 Gold Coast Airport was named the Best Regional Airport Asia/Pacific and was awarded the staff Service Excellence Australia/Pacific award at the Skytrax World Airport Awards in Copenhagen, Denmark.
• The closest airport to Gold Coast Airport (OOL) is Ballina Byron Gateway Airport (BNK), which is located 46 miles (75 kilometers) S of OOL.