Nonstop flight route between Fort Sumner, New Mexico, United States and Avarua, Cook Islands:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Fort Sumner Municipal Airport (FSU), Fort Sumner, New Mexico, United States and Rarotonga International Airport (RAR), Avarua, Cook Islands would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,302 miles (or 8,532 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 Fort Sumner Municipal Airport and Rarotonga International 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 Fort Sumner Municipal Airport and Rarotonga International 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 Fort Sumner Municipal Airport (FSU):

• In addition to being known as "Fort Sumner Municipal Airport", another name for FSU is "Fort Sumner Army Airfield".
• The closest airport to Fort Sumner Municipal Airport (FSU) is Cannon Air Force Base Clovis Air Force Base/AAF (CVS), which is located 51 miles (83 kilometers) E of FSU.
• The airport retains the large parking ramp from its training use.
• For the 12-month period ending April 9, 2011, the airport had 150 general aviation aircraft operations, an average of 12 per month.
• Fort Sumner Municipal Airport (FSU) has 2 runways.
• The furthest airport from Fort Sumner Municipal Airport (FSU) is Sir Gaëtan Duval Airport (RRG), which is located 11,167 miles (17,971 kilometers) away in Rodrigues Island, Mauritius.
• Because of Fort Sumner Municipal Airport's high elevation of 4,165 feet, planes must typically fly at a faster airspeed in order to takeoff or land at FSU. Combined with a high temperature, this could make FSU a "Hot & High" airport, where the air density is lower than it would otherwise be at sea level.
• The airfield's origins date to the 1920s when the Transcontinental Air Transport airline built an airfield in Fort Sumner as part of its coast-to-coast air passenger network, but the site was abandoned when the airline's ambitious plans collapsed in the Great Depression.

Facts about Rarotonga International Airport (RAR):

• The airport first opened in 1975 on the site of a former U.S.
• The closest airport to Rarotonga International Airport (RAR) is Mangaia Island Airport (MGS), which is located 131 miles (211 kilometers) ESE of RAR.
• The furthest airport from Rarotonga International Airport (RAR) is Faya-Largeau Airport (FYT), which is nearly antipodal to Rarotonga International Airport (meaning Rarotonga International Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Faya-Largeau Airport), and is located 12,199 miles (19,632 kilometers) away in Faya-Largeau, Chad.
• Air New Zealand Boeing 777 at Rarotonga
• An Air New Zealand Boeing 767 airliner at Rarotonga International Airport
• Because of the close proximity of the runways to the nearby roads, it is possible to get very close to aircraft while they are landing.
• Rarotonga International Airport (RAR) currently has only 1 runway.
• Because of Rarotonga International Airport's relatively low elevation of 19 feet, planes can take off or land at Rarotonga International 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.