Nonstop flight route between Maun, Botswana and Biak, Indonesia:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Maun Airport (MUB), Maun, Botswana and Frans Kaisiepo Airport (BIK), Biak, Indonesia would travel a Great Circle distance of 7,656 miles (or 12,321 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 Maun Airport and Frans Kaisiepo 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 Maun Airport and Frans Kaisiepo 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 Maun Airport (MUB):

• The aircraft were awaited as they brought news of the outside world, mail, medicines, foodstuffs, and above all, new people to a community hundreds of kilometres from the nearest big town.
• The closest airport to Maun Airport (MUB) is Ghanzi Airport (GNZ), which is located 165 miles (266 kilometers) SW of MUB.
• Maun Airport (MUB) currently has only 1 runway.
• The airport has gone under recent expansion.
• The earliest known flights over the Okavango region took place in July 1925, and were part of a survey of the rivers of the Okavango region, using aircraft based in Livingstone.
• The furthest airport from Maun Airport (MUB) is Kona International Airport at Keāhole (KOA), which is nearly antipodal to Maun Airport (meaning Maun Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Kona International Airport at Keāhole), and is located 12,399 miles (19,954 kilometers) away in Kailua / Kona, Hawaii, United States.
• The landing strip in those far-off days was what is today Maun’s main street, the strip later being moved away from the town centre to the present site of the airport.

Facts about Frans Kaisiepo Airport (BIK):

• Mokmer Airfield is located to the west of Mokmer village on Biak, parallel to the coastline and the Japen Straight and is the only one of the three currently used as an airport, now called Frans Kaisiepo International Airport.
• The terminal is equipped with numerous facilities including a mosque, public telephone boxes, Automated Teller Machines, restaurants, and souvenir shops.
• From August 1962 to 30 April 1963, Irian Jaya was administered by UNTEA.
• As World War II started in the Asia-Pacific region, Japan started occupying Irian Jaya in 1942.
• In addition to being known as "Frans Kaisiepo Airport", another name for BIK is "Bandara Frans Kaisiepo".
• Because of Frans Kaisiepo Airport's relatively low elevation of 46 feet, planes can take off or land at Frans Kaisiepo 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.
• Frans Kaisiepo Airport (BIK) currently has only 1 runway.
• Frans Kaisiepo Airport handled 366 passengers last year.
• The closest airport to Frans Kaisiepo Airport (BIK) is Kornasoren Airport (FOO), which is located 87 miles (140 kilometers) WNW of BIK.
• The furthest airport from Frans Kaisiepo Airport (BIK) is Marechal Cunha Machado International Airport (Tirirical) (SLZ), which is nearly antipodal to Frans Kaisiepo Airport (meaning Frans Kaisiepo Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Marechal Cunha Machado International Airport (Tirirical)), and is located 12,175 miles (19,593 kilometers) away in São Luís, Brazil.
• With the advent of jet airliners such as the Boeing 707 and Douglas DC-8, the airport went through another modernization to start accommodating them.