Nonstop flight route between Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia and Richards Bay, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Newcastle Airport (NTL), Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia and Richards Bay Airport (RCB), Richards Bay, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa would travel a Great Circle distance of 6,636 miles (or 10,679 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 Newcastle Airport and Richards Bay 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 Newcastle Airport and Richards Bay 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 Newcastle Airport (NTL):

• Runway 12/30 has an available landing distance of 2,438 m with an asphalt surface.
• Commercial operations began at Williamtown in 1947 when the Australian Government opened the existing Royal Australian Air Force airport to civil aviation.
• Newcastle Airport (NTL) currently has only 1 runway.
• Impulse Airlines, a regional airline and later one of Australia's first low cost airlines, established a base at the airport in the early 1990s, creating a maintenance facility.
• The furthest airport from Newcastle Airport (NTL) is Santa Maria Airport (SMA), which is nearly antipodal to Newcastle Airport (meaning Newcastle Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Santa Maria Airport), and is located 12,102 miles (19,476 kilometers) away in Santa Maria, Portugal.
• The closest airport to Newcastle Airport (NTL) is Maitland Airport (MTL), which is located 21 miles (34 kilometers) WNW of NTL.
• Newcastle Airport handled 1,211,302 passengers last year.
• In July 2012, developer GWH Group announced that it had lodged a development application with the Port Stephens Council to construct a $12 million hotel complex on airport land adjacent to the current long term car park.
• Because of Newcastle Airport's relatively low elevation of 31 feet, planes can take off or land at Newcastle 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.
• Flight JQ371, the inaugural flight of Jetstar Airways departed Newcastle for Melbourne on 24 May 2004.
• Newcastle Airport is 15 kilometres.
• In addition to being known as "Newcastle Airport", other names for NTL include "RAAF Base Williamtown" and "Williamtown Airport".

Facts about Richards Bay Airport (RCB):

• Richards Bay Airport (RCB) currently has only 1 runway.
• Because of Richards Bay Airport's relatively low elevation of 109 feet, planes can take off or land at Richards Bay 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 closest airport to Richards Bay Airport (RCB) is Hluhluwe Airport (HLW), which is located 52 miles (83 kilometers) NNE of RCB.
• The furthest airport from Richards Bay Airport (RCB) is Hana Airport (HNM), which is located 11,689 miles (18,812 kilometers) away in Hana, Hawaii, United States.