Nonstop flight route between Kirkenes, Finnmark, Norway and Tau, American Samoa:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Kirkenes Airport, Høybuktmoen (KKN), Kirkenes, Finnmark, Norway and Tau Airport (TAV), Tau, American Samoa would travel a Great Circle distance of 8,512 miles (or 13,698 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 Kirkenes Airport, Høybuktmoen and Tau 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 Kirkenes Airport, Høybuktmoen and Tau 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 Kirkenes Airport, Høybuktmoen (KKN):

• Høybuktmoen was built as a military air station by the Luftwaffe during World War II.
• Three airlines serve the airport with scheduled flights.
• SAS introduced the 52-passenger Convair Metropolitan on their domestic services, while Finnair served the airport with the 30-seat Douglas DC-3 on their flights to Finland.
• The furthest airport from Kirkenes Airport, Høybuktmoen (KKN) is Chatham Islands (CHT), which is located 10,424 miles (16,775 kilometers) away in Waitangi, Chatham Islands, New Zealand.
• Kirkenes Airport, Høybuktmoen (KKN) currently has only 1 runway.
• The route had doubled its patronage since its introduction by 1953—the last year it was operated by DNL.
• Because of Kirkenes Airport, Høybuktmoen's relatively low elevation of 282 feet, planes can take off or land at Kirkenes Airport, Høybuktmoen 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.
• In addition to being known as "Kirkenes Airport, Høybuktmoen", another name for KKN is "Kirkenes lufthavn, Høybuktmoen".
• The closest airport to Kirkenes Airport, Høybuktmoen (KKN) is Vadsø Airport (VDS), which is located 24 miles (38 kilometers) N of KKN.
• The first aircraft to land in Sør-Varanger was part of a trial undertaken in 1922 by the Royal Norwegian Navy Air Service to test the flight time from Horten to Kirkenes.
• SAS Commuter was established in 1988 and started operations in Northern Norway in May 1990.
• Kirkenes Airport, Høybuktmoen handled 297,149 passengers last year.

Facts about Tau Airport (TAV):

• Because of Tau Airport's relatively low elevation of 185 feet, planes can take off or land at Tau 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 Tau Airport (TAV) is Zinder Airport (ZND), which is nearly antipodal to Tau Airport (meaning Tau Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Zinder Airport), and is located 12,331 miles (19,845 kilometers) away in Zinder, Niger.
• In addition to being known as "Tau Airport", other names for TAV include "none" and "HI36".
• The closest airport to Tau Airport (TAV) is Fitiuta Airport (FTI), which is located only 6 miles (10 kilometers) E of TAV.
• Tau Airport (TAV) currently has only 1 runway.
• Tau Airport is no longer active or in use since the development of Fitiuta Airport, located northeast of Tau Island.