Nonstop flight route between Hokitika, New Zealand and Pituffik, Greenland:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Hokitika Airport (HKK), Hokitika, New Zealand and Thule Air Base (THU), Pituffik, Greenland would travel a Great Circle distance of 9,552 miles (or 15,373 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 Hokitika Airport and Thule Air Base, 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 Hokitika Airport and Thule Air Base. 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 Hokitika Airport (HKK):

• The furthest airport from Hokitika Airport (HKK) is Santiago de Compostela Airport (SCQ), which is nearly antipodal to Hokitika Airport (meaning Hokitika Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Santiago de Compostela Airport), and is located 12,404 miles (19,962 kilometers) away in Santiago de Compostela, Spain.
• The closest airport to Hokitika Airport (HKK) is Greymouth Airport (GMN), which is located 20 miles (33 kilometers) NNE of HKK.
• The main runway has a landing distance of 1,314 metres, but for take off is considered to have a distance of 1,374m.
• The Pavement Construction Number is 20 which corresponds to an ability to bare aircraft up to about 84,000 lb or 38,000 kg
• Because of Hokitika Airport's relatively low elevation of 146 feet, planes can take off or land at Hokitika 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.
• Hokitika Airport (HKK) has 2 runways.
• Hokitika Aerodrome is a small, uncontrolled aerodrome located 1 NM north east of Hokitika in the suburb of Seaview on the West Coast of the South Island of New Zealand.
• Air Travel Ltd was the first airline in New Zealand to fly scheduled air services.

Facts about Thule Air Base (THU):

• In 1957 construction began on 4 Nike Missile sites around the base, and they and their radar systems were operational by the end of 1958.
• In addition to being known as "Thule Air Base", another name for THU is "Thule AB".
• On 21 January 1968, a B-52G Stratofortress from the 380th Strategic Aerospace Wing, Plattsburgh Air Force Base, New York on a secret airborne nuclear alert crashed and burned on the ice near Thule Air Base.
• The furthest airport from Thule Air Base (THU) is Hobart International Airport (HBA), which is located 9,883 miles (15,905 kilometers) away in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia.
• The closest airport to Thule Air Base (THU) is Savissivik Heliport (SVR), which is located 69 miles (111 kilometers) ESE of THU.
• After the German occupation of Denmark on 9 April 1940, Henrik Kauffmann Danish Ambassador to the United States, made an agreement "In the name of the king" with the United States authorizing the United States to defend the Danish colonies on Greenland from German aggression - this agreement faced Kaufmann with a charge of high treason.
• The ratification of the treaty in 1951 did not change much, except that the Danish national flag Dannebrog must be side by side with Stars and Stripes on the base.
• Thule AB was constructed in secret under the code name Operation Blue Jay, but the project was made public in September 1952.
• Knud Rasmussen was the first to recognize the Pituffik plain as ideal for an airport.