Nonstop flight route between Greymouth, New Zealand and Oxfordshire, England, United Kingdom:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Greymouth Airport (GMN), Greymouth, New Zealand and RAF Brize Norton (BZZ), Oxfordshire, England, United Kingdom would travel a Great Circle distance of 11,711 miles (or 18,848 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 Greymouth Airport and RAF Brize Norton, 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 Greymouth Airport and RAF Brize Norton. 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 Greymouth Airport (GMN):

• Because of Greymouth Airport's relatively low elevation of 14 feet, planes can take off or land at Greymouth 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.
• Greymouth Airport (GMN) currently has only 1 runway.
• The closest airport to Greymouth Airport (GMN) is Hokitika Airport (HKK), which is located 20 miles (33 kilometers) SSW of GMN.
• The furthest airport from Greymouth Airport (GMN) is Vigo Airport (VGO), which is nearly antipodal to Greymouth Airport (meaning Greymouth Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Vigo Airport), and is located 12,418 miles (19,985 kilometers) away in Vigo, Galicia, Spain.

Facts about RAF Brize Norton (BZZ):

• On 12 August 2006, campaigners restricted access at the main entrance for several hours in a protest against British policy in the Middle East.
• The closest airport to RAF Brize Norton (BZZ) is RAF Fairford (FFD), which is located only 10 miles (16 kilometers) WSW of BZZ.
• By the 1950s Cold War tension was escalating and the United States envisaged stationing nuclear bombers in the United Kingdom as a deterrent to Soviet aggression.
• 101 Squadron reformed at Brize Norton on 1 May 1984, it previously operated the Avro Vulcan and participated in the Operation Black Buck missions of the Falklands War.
• The station is home to Air Transport, Air-to-Air refuelling and Military Parachuting, with aircraft operating from the station including the Lockheed C-130 Hercules, Boeing C-17 Globemaster III and Airbus A330 MRTT Voyager which replaced the now decommissioned Lockheed TriStar in March 2014.
• On 23 May 2001 the RAF's first C-17 arrived at Brize Norton, one of six to be delivered to 99 Squadron.
• A peace camp was held at the station from 21 to 25 April 2005, along with a demonstration in nearby Carterton.
• During the 2003 Iraq War four anti-war protesters managed to access the main runway in an attempt to prevent aircraft taking off.
• Royal Air Force Brize Norton or RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire, about 65 mi west north-west of London, is the largest station of the Royal Air Force.
• The furthest airport from RAF Brize Norton (BZZ) is Dunedin International Airport (DUD), which is located 11,888 miles (19,132 kilometers) away in Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand.
• With the closure of RAF Lyneham taking place in late 2011, the repatriation of British personnel was relocated to Brize Norton on 8 September 2011.