Nonstop flight route between Hammerfest, Finnmark, Norway and Galena, Alaska, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Hammerfest Airport (HFT), Hammerfest, Finnmark, Norway and Edward G. Pitka Sr. Airport (GAL), Galena, Alaska, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 3,080 miles (or 4,957 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 Hammerfest Airport and Edward G. Pitka Sr. 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 Hammerfest Airport and Edward G. Pitka Sr. 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 Hammerfest Airport (HFT):

• The furthest airport from Hammerfest Airport (HFT) is Chatham Islands (CHT), which is located 10,456 miles (16,828 kilometers) away in Waitangi, Chatham Islands, New Zealand.
• The main route at Hammerfest is Widerøe's service to Tromsø, which is operated up to eight times per day using Dash 8-100 aircraft.
• In addition to being known as "Hammerfest Airport", another name for HFT is "Hammerfest lufthavn".
• The closest airport to Hammerfest Airport (HFT) is Hasvik Airport (HAA), which is located 38 miles (60 kilometers) WSW of HFT.
• Because of Hammerfest Airport's relatively low elevation of 262 feet, planes can take off or land at Hammerfest 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.
• Hammerfest Airport handled 120,503 passengers last year.
• The first plans for serving Hammerfest with an airline route was launched in a government plan from 1933.

Facts about Edward G. Pitka Sr. Airport (GAL):

• In addition to being known as "Edward G. Pitka Sr. Airport", another name for GAL is "(former Galena Air Force Base)".
• As per Federal Aviation Administration records, the airport had 7,784 passenger boardings in calendar year 2008, 7,447 enplanements in 2009, and 12,421 in 2010.
• The furthest airport from Edward G. Pitka Sr. Airport (GAL) is George Airport (GRJ), which is located 10,313 miles (16,598 kilometers) away in George, South Africa.
• The closest airport to Edward G. Pitka Sr. Airport (GAL) is Koyukuk Airport (KYU), which is located 25 miles (41 kilometers) WNW of GAL.
• The airport also sports a ski-jump takeoff ramp at one end and provisions for arresting gear at the other, a leftover from the Cold War years as Galena Air Force Base, as tactical aircraft required more landing and takeoff space than was available on the runway.
• Edward G. Pitka Sr. Airport (GAL) has 2 runways.
• As Galena Airport, it was used as a military transport base during World War II, facilitating the transit of Lend-Lease aircraft to the Soviet Union.
• Because of Edward G. Pitka Sr. Airport's relatively low elevation of 153 feet, planes can take off or land at Edward G. Pitka Sr. 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.