Nonstop flight route between East London, South Africa and Hammerfest, Finnmark, Norway:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between East London Airport (ELS), East London, South Africa and Hammerfest Airport (HFT), Hammerfest, Finnmark, Norway would travel a Great Circle distance of 7,169 miles (or 11,537 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 East London Airport and Hammerfest 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 East London Airport and Hammerfest 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 East London Airport (ELS):

• In 1944 a new airport was built at Collondale, about 2 km west of the present terminal building.
• Because of East London Airport's relatively low elevation of 436 feet, planes can take off or land at East London 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.
• East London Airport (ELS) has 2 runways.
• East London Airport is an airport serving East London, a city in the Eastern Cape province on the southeast coast of South Africa.
• The closest airport to East London Airport (ELS) is Port Alfred Airport (AFD), which is located 65 miles (105 kilometers) WSW of ELS.
• The airport was renamed in 1994.
• Passenger flights were undertaken by two de Havilland Moth planes on Saturday afternoons and all day on Sundays, weather permitting.
• The furthest airport from East London Airport (ELS) is Kalaupapa Airport (LUP), which is located 11,569 miles (18,618 kilometers) away in Kalaupapa, Hawaii, United States.

Facts about Hammerfest Airport (HFT):

• The helicopter operations were taken over by Norsk Helikpoter when they opened their base on 11 November 2004.Airport security was introduced on 1 January 2005.
• Because of Hammerfest Airport's relatively low elevation of 262 feet, planes can take off or land at Hammerfest 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 Hammerfest Airport (HFT) is Chatham Islands (CHT), which is located 10,456 miles (16,828 kilometers) away in Waitangi, Chatham Islands, New Zealand.
• Avinor is considering building a new airport at Grøtnes, which would be built as reclaimed land 15 kilometers from Hammerfest.
• The closest airport to Hammerfest Airport (HFT) is Hasvik Airport (HAA), which is located 38 miles (60 kilometers) WSW of HFT.
• Hammerfest Airport handled 120,503 passengers last year.
• DNL resumed the Hammerfest route in 1946, connecting the town to Tromsø, Vadsø and Kirkenes with a Junkers Ju 52.
• In addition to being known as "Hammerfest Airport", another name for HFT is "Hammerfest lufthavn".