Nonstop flight route between Groningen / Eelde, Netherlands and Upington, South Africa:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Groningen Airport Eelde (GRQ), Groningen / Eelde, Netherlands and Upington Airport (UTN), Upington, South Africa would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,702 miles (or 9,176 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 Groningen Airport Eelde and Upington 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 Groningen Airport Eelde and Upington 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 Groningen Airport Eelde (GRQ):

• With the airport becoming more crowded due to holiday flights, it was decided to join the two existing passenger halls together.
• During World War II, between 1940 and 1945, the airport was occupied by the German Military.
• Early 1945, the Germans abandoned their "Fliegerhorst", as they called it.
• Groningen Airport Eelde is a civilian airport near Eelde, in the northeastern Netherlands.
• In 1956, the airport was renamed as "Luchthaven Eelde NV".
• Because of Groningen Airport Eelde's relatively low elevation of 17 feet, planes can take off or land at Groningen Airport Eelde 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 closest airport to Groningen Airport Eelde (GRQ) is Emden Airport (EME), which is located 32 miles (52 kilometers) NE of GRQ.
• The furthest airport from Groningen Airport Eelde (GRQ) is Chatham Islands (CHT), which is located 11,778 miles (18,956 kilometers) away in Waitangi, Chatham Islands, New Zealand.
• Groningen Airport Eelde handled 20,866 passengers last year.
• Groningen Airport Eelde (GRQ) has 2 runways.

Facts about Upington Airport (UTN):

• The closest airport to Upington Airport (UTN) is Johan Pienaar Airport (KMH), which is located 147 miles (236 kilometers) ENE of UTN.
• The furthest airport from Upington Airport (UTN) is Princeville Airport (HPV), which is nearly antipodal to Upington Airport (meaning Upington Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Princeville Airport), and is located 12,007 miles (19,323 kilometers) away in Hanalei, Hawaii, United States.
• From August 1976 to December 1996, South African Airways made use of Upington as a refuelling station for two weekly scheduled Boeing 747 flights to London and Zurich.
• With the fall of the Portuguese regime in Angola, South African Airways lost its landing rights in Luanda.
• Upington Airport (UTN) has 3 runways.
• Upington Airport's runway was built to accommodate a Boeing 747 with a full load of passengers, cargo and fuel, so that it could take off for Europe without having to stop along the way.
• Planning is also under way at Upington Airport to construct a facility for the long-term parking of mothballed aircraft.
• Private charter flights are provided by Walker Flying Services who operates Cessna 210 and Cessna 402 aircraft.