Nonstop flight route between Grand Rapids, Michigan, United States and Zürich, Switzerland:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Gerald R. Ford International Airport (GRR), Grand Rapids, Michigan, United States and Zurich Airport (ZRH), Zürich, Switzerland would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,298 miles (or 6,917 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 Gerald R. Ford International Airport 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 Gerald R. Ford International Airport 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 Gerald R. Ford International Airport (GRR):

• In January 2012 Southwest Airlines announced it would continue Airtran flights to Grand Rapids and eventually transfer them to Southwest.
• The closest airport to Gerald R. Ford International Airport (GRR) is Park Township Airport (HLM), which is located 33 miles (53 kilometers) W of GRR.
• The furthest airport from Gerald R. Ford International Airport (GRR) is Margaret River Airport (MGV), which is located 11,165 miles (17,969 kilometers) away in Margaret River, Western Australia, Australia.
• Because of Gerald R. Ford International Airport's relatively low elevation of 794 feet, planes can take off or land at Gerald R. Ford 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.
• 81,221,489 pounds of air freight were handled in 2012, representing an increase of 0.6% over the previous year.
• Gerald R. Ford International Airport (GRR) has 3 runways.
• The airport is at the intersection of 44th Street and Patterson Avenue.
• In 1959 construction began on the present airport in Cascade Township, several miles east of the original one.

Facts about Zurich Airport (ZRH):

• The noise of aircraft became an issue and a noise charge was instituted in 1980, and in 1984, an agreement was made regarding arrivals and departures to the airport via German airspace.
• Zurich Airport (ZRH) has 4 runways.
• The closest airport to Zurich Airport (ZRH) is Emmen Swiss Air Base (EML), which is located 28 miles (45 kilometers) SSW of ZRH.
• In addition to being known as "Zurich Airport", another name for ZRH is "Flughafen Zürich".
• 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.
• The airport has three airside piers, which are known as docks A, B and E.
• Rega, the air rescue service, has its head office in the Rega Centre, a hangar located in the northeast section of Zurich Airport.
• Zurich Airport handled 24,865,138 passengers last year.
• Zurich Airport, also known as Zurich Kloten Airport, is the largest international airport of Switzerland and the principal hub of Swiss International Air Lines.