Nonstop flight route between Bagram, Afghanistan and Paraparaumu Beach, New Zealand:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Bagram Airfield (OAI), Bagram, Afghanistan and Kapiti Coast Airport (PPQ), Paraparaumu Beach, New Zealand would travel a Great Circle distance of 8,491 miles (or 13,664 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 Bagram Airfield and Kapiti Coast 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 Bagram Airfield and Kapiti Coast 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 Bagram Airfield (OAI):

• Bagram handles a number of scheduled and charter military and commercial flights, some of which have been listed based on available information.
• Bagram Airfield (OAI) currently has only 1 runway.
• In addition to being known as "Bagram Airfield", other names for OAI include "Bagram Airport (Bagram)" and "د بګرام هوائی ډګر".
• As of late January 2002, there were somewhat over 4,000 US troops in Afghanistan, of which about 3,000 were at Kandahar International Airport, and about 500 were stationed at Bagram.
• In March 2009, a car bomb exploded somewhere outside Bagram Airfield wounding three civilian workers.
• The closest airport to Bagram Airfield (OAI) is Kabul International Airport (KBL), which is located 26 miles (43 kilometers) S of OAI.
• The furthest airport from Bagram Airfield (OAI) is Mataveri International Airport (IPC), which is located 11,894 miles (19,141 kilometers) away in Easter Island, Chile.
• Because of Bagram Airfield's high elevation of 4,895 feet, planes must typically fly at a faster airspeed in order to takeoff or land at OAI. Combined with a high temperature, this could make OAI a "Hot & High" airport, where the air density is lower than it would otherwise be at sea level.
• The Kabul International Airport is about 25 miles south of Bagram, connected by two separate roads.

Facts about Kapiti Coast Airport (PPQ):

• On 24 October 2011, Air Nelson, a subsidiary of Air New Zealand, commenced flights between Auckland and Paraparaumu.
• The closest airport to Kapiti Coast Airport (PPQ) is Wellington International Airport (WLG), which is located 31 miles (49 kilometers) SSW of PPQ.
• Because of Kapiti Coast Airport's relatively low elevation of 22 feet, planes can take off or land at Kapiti Coast 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 Kapiti Coast Airport (PPQ) is Salamanca-Matacán Airport (SLM), which is nearly antipodal to Kapiti Coast Airport (meaning Kapiti Coast Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Salamanca-Matacán Airport), and is located 12,411 miles (19,973 kilometers) away in Salamanca, Spain.
• Paraparaumu was judged unsuitable for international operations in the 1950s due to Kapiti Island to the near west and the Tararua Ranges barely a mile east infringing the take-off and landing flightpaths.
• As recently as 1992, alternate sites for a new airport for Wellington were investigated, including Paraparaumu, but a decision was made to upgrade Wellington Airport's existing site.
• Kapiti Coast Airport (PPQ) has 3 runways.