Nonstop flight route between Invercargill, New Zealand and Watson Lake, Yukon, Canada:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Invercargill Airport (IVC), Invercargill, New Zealand and Watson Lake Airport (YQH), Watson Lake, Yukon, Canada would travel a Great Circle distance of 8,161 miles (or 13,134 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 Watson Lake 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 Invercargill Airport and Watson Lake 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 Invercargill Airport (IVC):

• The closest airport to Invercargill Airport (IVC) is Ryan's Creek Aerodrome (SZS), which is located 35 miles (57 kilometers) SSW of IVC.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• When the Government nationalized all airlines to create NAC in 1947, the Electra service was replaced by de Havilland DH.89s.
• 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.
• 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.
• In 2005, the runway was extended to 2,210 m at a cost of NZ$5 million, as of 2012 it is the third longest civilian runway in New Zealand, capable of handling aircraft of Boeing 737/Airbus A320 type sized aircraft.
• 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.
• Air New Zealand is the major carrier operating from the airport.
• 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 handled 27,092 passengers last year.
• Regular types using the airport now are, ATR 72, and Dash 8 Q-300.
• Invercargill Airport (IVC) has 4 runways.

Facts about Watson Lake Airport (YQH):

• Scheduled passenger service was offered in the past by Canadian Pacific Air Lines and its successors CP Air and Canadian Airlines International to Vancouver, British Columbia.
• Watson Lake Airport (YQH) currently has only 1 runway.
• The furthest airport from Watson Lake Airport (YQH) is Port Alfred Airport (AFD), which is located 10,299 miles (16,574 kilometers) away in Port Alfred, South Africa.
• The closest airport to Watson Lake Airport (YQH) is Dease Lake Airport (YDL), which is located 125 miles (201 kilometers) SSW of YQH.