Nonstop flight route between Hughes, Alaska, United States and Mackay, Queensland, Australia:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Hughes Airport (HUS), Hughes, Alaska, United States and Mackay Airport (MKY), Mackay, Queensland, Australia would travel a Great Circle distance of 6,700 miles (or 10,782 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 Hughes Airport and Mackay 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 Hughes Airport and Mackay 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 Hughes Airport (HUS):

• Because of Hughes Airport's relatively low elevation of 299 feet, planes can take off or land at Hughes 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.
• The furthest airport from Hughes Airport (HUS) is Port Elizabeth International Airport (PLZ), which is located 10,222 miles (16,451 kilometers) away in Port Elizabeth, South Africa.
• Hughes Airport has one runway with a gravel surface measuring 3,380 by 100 feet.
• Hughes Airport is a state-owned public-use airport located one nautical mile southwest of the central business district of Hughes, a city in the Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area of the U.S.
• Hughes Airport (HUS) currently has only 1 runway.
• The closest airport to Hughes Airport (HUS) is Indian Mountain LRRS Airport (UTO), which is located only 16 miles (26 kilometers) E of HUS.

Facts about Mackay Airport (MKY):

• Mackay Airport handled 1,049,172 passengers last year.
• Mackay Airport had grass landing strips until 1940, when the Commonwealth Government extended the airport's boundaries and upgraded the runways to unsealed gravel for use during World War II.
• The closest airport to Mackay Airport (MKY) is Great Barrier Reef Airport (HTI), which is located 58 miles (94 kilometers) NNW of MKY.
• Because of Mackay Airport's relatively low elevation of 19 feet, planes can take off or land at Mackay 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.
• Mackay Airport (MKY) has 2 runways.
• The furthest airport from Mackay Airport (MKY) is Agostinho Neto Airport (NTO), which is located 11,973 miles (19,269 kilometers) away in Ponta do Sol, Santo Antão, Cape Verde.
• Moves to establish an airport at Mackay began in 1927, when Captain Ron Adair selected the site of the town commons for the construction of an aerodrome, and landed the first plane in Mackay there, his own Avro biplane.
• Despite the collapse of airlines Ansett Australia and Flight West Airlines in 2001, Mackay Airport has experienced considerable growth in recent years, due to the use of the airport by Virgin Australia and the expansion of QantasLink services, and handles over 620,000 passengers through the terminal per annum but that has slowed and the airport is up for sale.
• In January 2010, Auckland International Airport Limited, announced plans to purchase almost 25 per cent of North Queensland Airports, operator of the airports at Cairns and Mackay, for about $167 million.