Nonstop flight route between Mackay, Queensland, Australia and Sidney, Montana, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Mackay Airport (MKY), Mackay, Queensland, Australia and Sidney-Richland Municipal Airport (SDY), Sidney, Montana, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 8,052 miles (or 12,958 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 Mackay Airport and Sidney-Richland Municipal 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 Mackay Airport and Sidney-Richland Municipal 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 Mackay Airport (MKY):

• Moves to establish an airport at Mackay began in 1927, when Captain Ron Adair selected the site of the town commons for the construction of an aerodrome, and landed the first plane in Mackay there, his own Avro biplane.
• In 1938, the airport held an airshow featuring ten aircraft, which attracted over 8,000 spectators.
• Mackay Airport (MKY) has 2 runways.
• The closest airport to Mackay Airport (MKY) is Great Barrier Reef Airport (HTI), which is located 58 miles (94 kilometers) NNW of MKY.
• In 1941, the Commonwealth Government took control of the airport from the Mackay City Council, and built a new passenger terminal in 1953.
• Because of Mackay Airport's relatively low elevation of 19 feet, planes can take off or land at Mackay 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.
• Mackay Airport handled 1,049,172 passengers last year.
• In January 2010, Auckland International Airport Limited, announced plans to purchase almost 25 per cent of North Queensland Airports, operator of the airports at Cairns and Mackay, for about $167 million.
• The furthest airport from Mackay Airport (MKY) is Agostinho Neto Airport (NTO), which is located 11,973 miles (19,269 kilometers) away in Ponta do Sol, Santo Antão, Cape Verde.
• Despite the collapse of airlines Ansett Australia and Flight West Airlines in 2001, Mackay Airport has experienced considerable growth in recent years, due to the use of the airport by Virgin Australia and the expansion of QantasLink services, and handles over 620,000 passengers through the terminal per annum but that has slowed and the airport is up for sale.

Facts about Sidney-Richland Municipal Airport (SDY):

• The furthest airport from Sidney-Richland Municipal Airport (SDY) is Sir Gaëtan Duval Airport (RRG), which is located 10,383 miles (16,711 kilometers) away in Rodrigues Island, Mauritius.
• Scheduled air service temporarily ceased on March 8, 2008, when Big Sky Airlines ended operations in bankruptcy.
• The closest airport to Sidney-Richland Municipal Airport (SDY) is Sloulin Field International Airport (ISN), which is located 41 miles (67 kilometers) NE of SDY.
• As per the Federal Aviation Administration, this airport had 2,031 passenger boardings in calendar year 2008, 2,766 in 2009, and 3,659 in 2010.
• Sidney-Richland Municipal Airport covers an area of 335 acres at an elevation of 1,985 feet above mean sea level.
• Sidney-Richland Municipal Airport (SDY) has 2 runways.