Nonstop flight route between Invercargill, New Zealand and Misawa, Aomori, Japan:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Invercargill Airport (IVC), Invercargill, New Zealand and Misawa Air Base 三沢飛行場 Misawa Hikōjō (MSJ), Misawa, Aomori, Japan would travel a Great Circle distance of 6,244 miles (or 10,049 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 Misawa Air Base 三沢飛行場 Misawa Hikōjō, 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 Misawa Air Base 三沢飛行場 Misawa Hikōjō. 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):

• Invercargill Airport (IVC) has 4 runways.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• Invercargill Airport has had aspirations from the 1980s through to the 2000s as an international destination with proposals that have failed to get off the ground with nearby Queenstown being developed as a more direct route for jet aircraft.
• 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.
• When the Government nationalized all airlines to create NAC in 1947, the Electra service was replaced by de Havilland DH.89s.
• Today the airport is visited by aircraft of the United States ANG, Australian RAAF, Italy's Aeronautica Militare and RNZAF as part of Antarctic flight diversion training.
• The closest airport to Invercargill Airport (IVC) is Ryan's Creek Aerodrome (SZS), which is located 35 miles (57 kilometers) SSW of IVC.
• Invercargill Airport handled 27,092 passengers last year.

Facts about Misawa Air Base 三沢飛行場 Misawa Hikōjō (MSJ):

• Misawa Air Base is a United States military facility located 3 NM northeast of the railway station in Misawa, 3 mi west of the Pacific Ocean, 10 mi northeast of Towada, 18 mi northwest of Hachinohe, and 425 mi north of Tokyo, in Aomori Prefecture, in the Tōhoku region in the northern part of the island of Honshū of Japan.
• Japanese Air Self Defense Force
• The Misawa Passive Radio Frequency space surveillance site was used for tracking satellites using the signals they transmit.
• The 49th Fighter-Bomber Wing was relieved from its duties in South Korea on November 7, 1953 and resumed its host duties at the base.
• In addition to being known as "Misawa Air Base 三沢飛行場 Misawa Hikōjō", another name for MSJ is "Misawa AB".
• In this role the 39th trained the assigned units and controlled aerial interception missions when Japanese air space was violated.
• The Imperial Army transformed Misawa into an air base in 1938 when it was used as a base for long-range bombers.
• The closest airport to Misawa Air Base 三沢飛行場 Misawa Hikōjō (MSJ) is JMSDF Hachinohe Air Base (HHE), which is located only 12 miles (19 kilometers) SSE of MSJ.
• The furthest airport from Misawa Air Base 三沢飛行場 Misawa Hikōjō (MSJ) is Rio Grande Regional Airport (RIG), which is located 11,479 miles (18,473 kilometers) away in Rio Grande, Brazil.