Nonstop flight route between Hickory, North Carolina, United States and Nelson, New Zealand:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Hickory Regional Airport (HKY), Hickory, North Carolina, United States and Nelson AirportTe Papa Waka Rererangi o Whakatū (NSN), Nelson, New Zealand would travel a Great Circle distance of 8,511 miles (or 13,697 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 Hickory Regional Airport and Nelson AirportTe Papa Waka Rererangi o Whakatū, 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 Hickory Regional Airport and Nelson AirportTe Papa Waka Rererangi o Whakatū. 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 Hickory Regional Airport (HKY):

• On August 2, 1941, Pennsylvania Central Airlines which later became Capital Airlines, brought the first scheduled air-carrier service to Hickory.
• The airport has an operating control tower from 7:00am to 9:00pm daily for safety and sequencing of aircraft landing and departing.
• The Hickory Municipal Airport was first opened to aircraft traffic on May 17, 1940.
• The furthest airport from Hickory Regional Airport (HKY) is Margaret River Airport (MGV), which is located 11,494 miles (18,499 kilometers) away in Margaret River, Western Australia, Australia.
• Hickory Regional Airport (HKY) has 2 runways.
• Local officials hope to attract future commercial airline service, despite challenges caused by the relatively close proximity of the large Charlotte-Douglas International Airport.
• The closest airport to Hickory Regional Airport (HKY) is Foothills Regional Airport (MRN), which is located only 14 miles (22 kilometers) WNW of HKY.

Facts about Nelson AirportTe Papa Waka Rererangi o Whakatū (NSN):

• The furthest airport from Nelson AirportTe Papa Waka Rererangi o Whakatū (NSN) is Bragança Airport (BGC), which is nearly antipodal to Nelson AirportTe Papa Waka Rererangi o Whakatū (meaning Nelson AirportTe Papa Waka Rererangi o Whakatū is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Bragança Airport), and is located 12,398 miles (19,953 kilometers) away in Bragança, Portugal.
• The closest airport to Nelson AirportTe Papa Waka Rererangi o Whakatū (NSN) is Motueka Aerodrome (MZP), which is located only 17 miles (27 kilometers) NW of NSN.
• Nelson AirportTe Papa Waka Rererangi o Whakatū (NSN) has 4 runways.
• In 2014, Nelson City Council deemed the main terminal of Nelson Airport a earthquake risk and at fault of possible liquefaction.
• Nelson airport is the home base of Air Nelson operating under the Air NZ Link banner, which operates a fleet of Bombardier Dash 8 Q300s on national air routes.
• Because of Nelson AirportTe Papa Waka Rererangi o Whakatū's relatively low elevation of 17 feet, planes can take off or land at Nelson AirportTe Papa Waka Rererangi o Whakatū 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.
• Nelson AirportTe Papa Waka Rererangi o Whakatū handled 776,448 passengers last year.