Nonstop flight route between Invercargill, New Zealand and Kailua / Kona, Hawaii, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Invercargill Airport (IVC), Invercargill, New Zealand and Kona International Airport at Keāhole (KOA), Kailua / Kona, Hawaii, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,084 miles (or 8,181 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 Invercargill Airport and Kona International Airport at Keāhole, 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 Invercargill Airport and Kona International Airport at Keāhole. 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 Invercargill Airport (IVC):

• Since July 2012, Air New Zealand has used Invercargill as a technical stop when conditions in Queenstown restrict aircraft from taking off with sufficient fuel to fly direct to Australia due to weather or operational reasons.
• Regular types using the airport now are, ATR 72, and Dash 8 Q-300.
• In 2013, the airport announced a new terminal building will be constructed and will cost $13.3 million, with construction funded by Invercargill City Holdings Ltd.
• Although only ever a backup airport during World War II, military operations have remained rare due to Christchurch being chosen as the main Operation Deep Freeze Base in 1949 and what was then Dunedin's Taieri Aerodrome acting as a departure point for shorter range aircraft heading south.
• Invercargill Airport handled 27,092 passengers last year.
• Because of Invercargill Airport's relatively low elevation of 5 feet, planes can take off or land at Invercargill 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.
• Invercargill Airport (IVC) has 4 runways.
• The runway was lengthened periodically over the years to cater for larger aircraft in time, such as NAC Fokker F27s, NAC Vickers Viscount, culminating with NAC's Boeing 737-200 type in 1975.
• The furthest airport from Invercargill Airport (IVC) is A Coruña Airport (LCG), which is nearly antipodal to Invercargill Airport (meaning Invercargill Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from A Coruña Airport), and is located 12,168 miles (19,582 kilometers) away in A Coruña, Spain.
• When the Government nationalized all airlines to create NAC in 1947, the Electra service was replaced by de Havilland DH.89s.
• The largest aircraft to land at Invercargill is the Boeing C-17 Globemaster, although the runway has been "buzzed" by USAF KC-10 Extenders, Lockheed C-141 Starlifters and C-5 Galaxy.
• The closest airport to Invercargill Airport (IVC) is Ryan's Creek Aerodrome (SZS), which is located 35 miles (57 kilometers) SSW of IVC.
• Regular jet services operated into the airport until 1995, when Air New Zealand restructured all its secondary provincial routes after subsidiary Mount Cook Airline introduced the 68 seat ATR 72-200 into service.

Facts about Kona International Airport at Keāhole (KOA):

• Kona International Airport at Keāhole (KOA) currently has only 1 runway.
• The closest airport to Kona International Airport at Keāhole (KOA) is Pōhakuloa Training Area (BSF), which is located 22 miles (36 kilometers) ENE of KOA.
• The furthest airport from Kona International Airport at Keāhole (KOA) is Maun Airport (MUB), which is nearly antipodal to Kona International Airport at Keāhole (meaning Kona International Airport at Keāhole is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Maun Airport), and is located 12,399 miles (19,954 kilometers) away in Maun, Botswana.
• Because of Kona International Airport at Keāhole's relatively low elevation of 47 feet, planes can take off or land at Kona International Airport at Keāhole 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.
• It was originally known as Ke-āhole Airport, since the ʻāhole fish was found nearby.
• In addition to being known as "Kona International Airport at Keāhole", another name for KOA is "Kona International Airport".
• Kona International Airport at Keāhole handled 2,649,493 passengers last year.
• Japan Airlines' Kona-Tokyo flight that started in 1996 ended in 2010, so Hawaii Island's only scheduled international flight is to Vancouver.Hawaiian Airlines filed an application with the US Department of Transportation for nonstop flights from Kona to Tokyo's Haneda Airport restoring the link between the two cities after Japan Airlines ended flights to Narita Airport in 2010.
• When the airport opened in 1970, it helped accelerate a shift of tourism from East Hawaii to West Hawaii.