Nonstop flight route between Fairbanks / Fort Wainwright, Alaska, United States and Zürich, Switzerland:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Ladd Army Airfield (FBK), Fairbanks / Fort Wainwright, Alaska, United States and Zurich Airport (ZRH), Zürich, Switzerland would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,572 miles (or 7,358 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 Ladd Army Airfield and Zurich 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 Ladd Army Airfield and Zurich 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 Ladd Army Airfield (FBK):

• Ladd Army Airfield (FBK) currently has only 1 runway.
• The closest airport to Ladd Army Airfield (FBK) is Fairbanks International Airport (FAI), which is located only 7 miles (12 kilometers) WSW of FBK.
• Alaska's transportation infrastructure at the time was so limited and the problem of military supply so acute, it also made sense to concentrate the bases along existing supply lines near Anchorage and Fairbanks.
• The furthest airport from Ladd Army Airfield (FBK) is Port Elizabeth International Airport (PLZ), which is located 10,286 miles (16,554 kilometers) away in Port Elizabeth, South Africa.
• Because of Ladd Army Airfield's relatively low elevation of 454 feet, planes can take off or land at Ladd Army Airfield 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.
• In addition to being known as "Ladd Army Airfield", another name for FBK is "(Ladd Air Force Base)".

Facts about Zurich Airport (ZRH):

• Rega, the air rescue service, has its head office in the Rega Centre, a hangar located in the northeast section of Zurich Airport.
• The first expansion of the airport was submitted in 1956, but the budget for the expansion was not approved by the Swiss Government until 1958 and the expansion was completed in 1961.
• In addition to being known as "Zurich Airport", another name for ZRH is "Flughafen Zürich".
• The closest airport to Zurich Airport (ZRH) is Emmen Swiss Air Base (EML), which is located 28 miles (45 kilometers) SSW of ZRH.
• The first flights off the west runway were not until 1948.
• The furthest airport from Zurich Airport (ZRH) is Chatham Islands (CHT), which is nearly antipodal to Zurich Airport (meaning Zurich Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Chatham Islands), and is located 12,087 miles (19,453 kilometers) away in Waitangi, Chatham Islands, New Zealand.
• In 2003, Zurich Airport completed a major expansion project in which it built a new parking garage, a new midfield terminal, and an automated underground train to link the midfield terminal to the main terminal.
• Zurich Airport handled 24,865,138 passengers last year.
• Zurich Airport (ZRH) has 4 runways.