Nonstop flight route between Qaarsut / Uummannaq, Greenland and Upington, South Africa:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Qaarsut Airport (JQA), Qaarsut / Uummannaq, Greenland and Upington Airport (UTN), Upington, South Africa would travel a Great Circle distance of 7,714 miles (or 12,414 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 Qaarsut Airport and Upington 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 Qaarsut Airport and Upington 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 Qaarsut Airport (JQA):

• Because of Qaarsut Airport's relatively low elevation of 289 feet, planes can take off or land at Qaarsut 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.
• Qaarsut Airport handled 7,105 passengers last year.
• Qaarsut Airport is an airport in Qaarsut, a settlement on the Nuussuaq Peninsula in the Qaasuitsup municipality in northwestern Greenland.
• Proposals to close the airport have to date been rejected.Sunk costs, tourism potential for northwestern and northern Greenland, and the 2010 reinvigoration of the mining activities in Maamorilik northeast of Ukkusissat, as well as on Appat Island in the future−are the primary reasons for keeping the airport open.
• In addition to being known as "Qaarsut Airport", other names for JQA include "Mittarfik Qaarsut" and "Uummannaq/Qaarsut Airport".
• Qaarsut Airport (JQA) currently has only 1 runway.
• The furthest airport from Qaarsut Airport (JQA) is Hobart International Airport (HBA), which is located 10,387 miles (16,716 kilometers) away in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia.
• The decision to build the airport in Qaarsut was intended to solve the bottleneck on the Ilulissat-Uummannaq route, until then operated by Air Greenland with Sikorsky S-61N helicopters.
• The closest airport to Qaarsut Airport (JQA) is Uummannaq Heliport (UMD), which is located only 14 miles (22 kilometers) ESE of JQA.

Facts about Upington Airport (UTN):

• Upington Airport (UTN) has 3 runways.
• From August 1976 to December 1996, South African Airways made use of Upington as a refuelling station for two weekly scheduled Boeing 747 flights to London and Zurich.
• Upington Airport's runway was built to accommodate a Boeing 747 with a full load of passengers, cargo and fuel, so that it could take off for Europe without having to stop along the way.
• The furthest airport from Upington Airport (UTN) is Princeville Airport (HPV), which is nearly antipodal to Upington Airport (meaning Upington Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Princeville Airport), and is located 12,007 miles (19,323 kilometers) away in Hanalei, Hawaii, United States.
• The closest airport to Upington Airport (UTN) is Johan Pienaar Airport (KMH), which is located 147 miles (236 kilometers) ENE of UTN.