Nonstop flight route between Fairbanks, Alaska, United States and Wanaka, New Zealand:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Eielson Air Force Base (EIL), Fairbanks, Alaska, United States and Wanaka Airport (WKA), Wanaka, New Zealand would travel a Great Circle distance of 7,917 miles (or 12,741 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 Eielson Air Force Base and Wanaka 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 Eielson Air Force Base and Wanaka 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 Eielson Air Force Base (EIL):

• In addition to being known as "Eielson Air Force Base", another name for EIL is "Eielson AFB".
• On 7 June 1943, the Western Defense Command ordered construction of a new airfield near present-day Fort Wainwright, then an Army airfield named after Major Arthur Ladd.
• The Air Defense Command deployed interceptors to Eielson during the 1960s.
• On 1 December 1947 Strategic Air Command B-29 Superfortress bombers arrived at 26-Mile Airfield with the deployment of the 97th Bombardment Wing, Very Heavy, from Smoky Hill AFB, Kansas.
• Eielson is home to the 354th Fighter Wing which is part of the Eleventh Air Force of Pacific Air Forces.
• The furthest airport from Eielson Air Force Base (EIL) is Port Elizabeth International Airport (PLZ), which is located 10,295 miles (16,568 kilometers) away in Port Elizabeth, South Africa.
• A new chapter for the base began 1 October 1981 when the 343d Composite Wing replaced the 5010th as Eielson's host unit.
• The closest airport to Eielson Air Force Base (EIL) is Ladd Army Airfield (FBK), which is located only 19 miles (31 kilometers) NW of EIL.

Facts about Wanaka Airport (WKA):

• The lack of a VHF omnidirectional range beacon at the airport poses an issue for some aircraft.
• Wanaka Airport (WKA) currently has only 1 runway.
• The furthest airport from Wanaka Airport (WKA) is A Coruña Airport (LCG), which is nearly antipodal to Wanaka Airport (meaning Wanaka Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from A Coruña Airport), and is located 12,283 miles (19,768 kilometers) away in A Coruña, Spain.
• Scheduled services were operated by Air New Zealand's 19 seater Beechcraft 1900D to Christchurch, this finished on 30 January 2013.
• The airport is the site of the biennial Warbirds over Wanaka international airshow.
• The closest airport to Wanaka Airport (WKA) is Queenstown Airport (ZQN), which is located 32 miles (52 kilometers) SW of WKA.