Nonstop flight route between Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia and Riga, Latvia:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Newcastle Airport (NTL), Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia and Riga International Airport (RIX), Riga, Latvia would travel a Great Circle distance of 9,490 miles (or 15,272 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 Riga International 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 Riga International 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):

• In 1997, BAE Systems was awarded the contract for assembly and ongoing system support for the Hawk 127 Lead in Fighters for the Royal Australian Air Force.
• 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.
• The airport runway is shared with the RAAF Base Williamtown.
• Runway 12/30 has an available landing distance of 2,438 m with an asphalt surface.
• The closest airport to Newcastle Airport (NTL) is Maitland Airport (MTL), which is located 21 miles (34 kilometers) WNW of NTL.
• In addition to being known as "Newcastle Airport", other names for NTL include "RAAF Base Williamtown" and "Williamtown Airport".
• Scheduled services to the airport commenced in February 1948, with Trans Australia Airlines using DC-3 aircraft to service a Sydney–Newcastle–Brisbane route.
• Newcastle Airport handled 1,211,302 passengers last year.
• 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.
• 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.
• Newcastle Airport is 15 kilometres.
• AirAsia X has investigated using Williamtown Airport for flights to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia.
• Newcastle Airport (NTL) currently has only 1 runway.

Facts about Riga International Airport (RIX):

• Riga International Airport (RIX) currently has only 1 runway.
• Riga International Airport is one of three notable airports in Latvia.
• Because of Riga International Airport's relatively low elevation of 36 feet, planes can take off or land at Riga International 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 Riga International Airport (RIX) is Chatham Islands (CHT), which is located 11,169 miles (17,975 kilometers) away in Waitangi, Chatham Islands, New Zealand.
• The closest airport to Riga International Airport (RIX) is Šiauliai International Airport (SQQ), which is located 74 miles (120 kilometers) SSW of RIX.
• In addition to being known as "Riga International Airport", another name for RIX is "Starptautiskā lidosta “Rīga”".
• As the Latvian government may be backing out of the state-financed plan to build the 20 million passenger capable terminal, airBaltic is now planning, by 2014, to build for its own exclusive use a second terminal which can handle 40 planes and 5000 passengers per hour, equivalent to about 7.5 million passengers per year, located next to the current terminal, while leaving the current terminal for all other airlines to use.
• The Latvian government plans to build another terminal capable of handling 20 million passengers a year.
• The airport is located in the Mārupe municipality 5.4 NM west of Riga and is a state-owned joint-stock company, with the owner of all shares being the government of Latvia.