Nonstop flight route between Bloomington, Minnesota, United States and Waterford, Ireland:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport Wold–Chamberlain Airport (MSP), Bloomington, Minnesota, United States and Waterford Airport (WAT), Waterford, Ireland would travel a Great Circle distance of 3,736 miles (or 6,013 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 Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport Wold–Chamberlain Airport and Waterford 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 Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport Wold–Chamberlain Airport and Waterford 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 Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport Wold–Chamberlain Airport (MSP):

• Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport Wold–Chamberlain Airport handled 33,897,335 passengers last year.
• Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport Wold–Chamberlain Airport (MSP) has 4 runways.
• The METRO light rail Blue Line has stops at both the Hub Building Terminal 1 and Terminal 2 Humphrey Terminal.
• Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport is a joint civil-military public use international airport.
• The closest airport to Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport Wold–Chamberlain Airport (MSP) is St. Paul Downtown Airport (STP), which is located only 9 miles (14 kilometers) ENE of MSP.
• Due in part to the impact of aircraft noise on south Minneapolis and surrounding suburbs, Northwest Airlines and others had proposed moving out of MSP and building a new airport on the fringes of the Twin Cities metro area to handle more large jets and more international traffic.
• Starting in 2000, MSP switched to lettered concourses, which has become standard practice at airports around the world.
• The airport is near Fort Snelling, the site of one of the earliest United States government settlements in the area.
• Because of Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport Wold–Chamberlain Airport's relatively low elevation of 841 feet, planes can take off or land at Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport Wold–Chamberlain 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.
• Airport diagram for October 1959
• The furthest airport from Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport Wold–Chamberlain Airport (MSP) is Margaret River Airport (MGV), which is located 10,758 miles (17,313 kilometers) away in Margaret River, Western Australia, Australia.

Facts about Waterford Airport (WAT):

• The closest airport to Waterford Airport (WAT) is Kilkenny Airport (KKY), which is located 33 miles (53 kilometers) NNW of WAT.
• In addition to being known as "Waterford Airport", another name for WAT is "Aerfort Phort Láirge".
• The airport opened in 1981 with a 1,200 by 29 m runway for single and twin-engine light aircraft and a portable cabin as terminal building.
• Passengers numbers through Waterford Airport in 2009 fall due to routes being suspended to Bordeaux, Faro, Malaga and Amsterdam and service reductions on routes to Birmingham, London Luton and Manchester.
• On 10 January 2008 Aer Arann announced the return of the summer routes to Bordeaux, Faro, Málaga with a new service to Amsterdam.
• The fully upgraded and remodelled connecting regional road, R708, from Waterford city to the airport was completed in early July 2008, reducing the journey time from Waterford city centre to the airport to 10 minutes at off peak times and from the outer ring road, R470, to the airport to 5 minutes.
• Because of Waterford Airport's relatively low elevation of 119 feet, planes can take off or land at Waterford 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 Waterford Airport (WAT) is Ryan's Creek Aerodrome (SZS), which is nearly antipodal to Waterford Airport (meaning Waterford Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Ryan's Creek Aerodrome), and is located 12,013 miles (19,333 kilometers) away in Stewart Island, New Zealand.
• Waterford Airport handled 8,000 passengers last year.
• On 12 May 2010 Aer Arann announced an expansion of services from Waterford to London and Galway.
• Flybe has indicated that the services to Waterford will be in place until at least 2014.