Nonstop flight route between Houston, Texas, United States and Zürich, Switzerland:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH), Houston, Texas, United States and Zurich Airport (ZRH), Zürich, Switzerland would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,309 miles (or 8,544 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 George Bush Intercontinental 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 George Bush Intercontinental 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 George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH):

• On April 24, 2014, Spirit Airlines announced new services from Houston, to 6 new domestic destinations, including Atlanta, Fort Lauderdale, Kansas City, New Orleans and San Diego.
• The airport has a total of five terminals encompassing 250 acres., with a 1.5-mile distance from Terminal A to Terminal D.
• The City of Houston annexed the Bush Airport area in 1965.
• Houston Intercontinental had been scheduled to open in 1967, but design changes regarding the terminals created cost overruns and construction delays.
• The closest airport to George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH) is David Wayne Hooks Memorial Airport (DWH), which is located only 14 miles (22 kilometers) WNW of IAH.
• The site for Bush Intercontinental Airport was originally purchased by a group of Houston businessmen in 1957 to preserve the site until the city of Houston could formulate a plan for a second airport, supplanting what was then known as Houston Municipal Airport.
• George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH) has 5 runways.
• George Bush Intercontinental Airport handled 40,128,953 passengers last year.
• United Airlines offers thrice-daily bus service to Beaumont, TX, which replaced its air service on July 1, 2012.
• In addition to being known as "George Bush Intercontinental Airport", another name for IAH is "Houston-Intercontinental".
• Because of George Bush Intercontinental Airport's relatively low elevation of 97 feet, planes can take off or land at George Bush Intercontinental 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 George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH) is Cocos (Keeling) Island Airport (CCK), which is located 10,981 miles (17,672 kilometers) away in Cocos Islands, Australia.

Facts about Zurich Airport (ZRH):

• In addition to being known as "Zurich Airport", another name for ZRH is "Flughafen Zürich".
• In front of the terminal is a regional bus station and the airport stop of the Stadtbahn Glattal, a light rail system.
• The airport lost a lot of traffic when Swissair shut down its operations.
• The airport has three airside piers, which are known as docks A, B and E.
• The closest airport to Zurich Airport (ZRH) is Emmen Swiss Air Base (EML), which is located 28 miles (45 kilometers) SSW of ZRH.
• Zurich Airport handled 24,865,138 passengers last year.
• Zurich Airport (ZRH) has 4 runways.
• 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.
• Schengen and non-Schengen arriving passengers are handled in separate areas of the central airside building, with non-Schengen passengers passing through immigration controls to reach the ground-side terminal complex.