Nonstop flight route between West Palm Beach, Florida, United States and Hambantota, Sri Lanka:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Palm Beach International Airport (PBI), West Palm Beach, Florida, United States and Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport (HRI), Hambantota, Sri Lanka would travel a Great Circle distance of 9,835 miles (or 15,827 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 Palm Beach International Airport and Mattala Rajapaksa 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 Palm Beach International Airport and Mattala Rajapaksa 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 Palm Beach International Airport (PBI):

• Palm Beach International Airport (PBI) has 3 runways.
• Palm Beach International Airport handled 5,609,168 passengers last year.
• Competition from rapidly expanding Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood International Airport cut growth at the airport through the 1990s.
• In 1947 the newly established U.S.
• The furthest airport from Palm Beach International Airport (PBI) is Shark Bay Airport (MJK), which is located 11,588 miles (18,650 kilometers) away in Monkey Mia, Western Australia, Australia.
• There is 1 Rescue/Pumper unit, 4 Airport Crash Trucks, 1 mobile command unit, 1 support truck, 1 airplane stair truck, and 3 Battalion Officer vehicles in the Battalion.
• The closest airport to Palm Beach International Airport (PBI) is Palm Beach County Park Airport (LNA), which is located only 6 miles (10 kilometers) S of PBI.
• The Air Weather Service used Palm Beach AFB as headquarters for hurricane research, flying the first WB-50D Superfortress "Hurricane Hunter" aircraft from the base in 1956.
• Because of Palm Beach International Airport's relatively low elevation of 19 feet, planes can take off or land at Palm Beach 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.
• In conjunction with the slated construction of a new ATC tower at PBIA, the FAA intended to transfer all of PBIA's air traffic controllers whose assigned sector is between 5 and 40 miles from the airport to a remote facility at Miami International Airport.

Facts about Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport (HRI):

• The airport was declared open by the President of Sri Lanka, Mahinda Rajapaksa, on 18 March 2013 and commenced operations with the landing of a SriLankan Airlines special Airbus A340 flight named 'City of Magam Ruhunupura' with the President on board.
• The closest airport to Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport (HRI) is Weerawila Airport (WRZ), which is located only 8 miles (13 kilometers) ESE of HRI.
• In addition to being known as "Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport", another name for HRI is "මත්තල රාජපක්ෂ ජාත්‍යන්තර ගුවන්තොටුපළமத்தல ராஜபக்ஷ பன்னாட்டு விமான நிலையம்".
• Because of Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport's relatively low elevation of 157 feet, planes can take off or land at Mattala Rajapaksa 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 air traffic control tower of height 41m has been constructed at the highest elevation of the aerodrome.
• Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport (HRI) currently has only 1 runway.
• Construction of phase one began on 27 November 2009 at Mattala.
• The furthest airport from Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport (HRI) is Seymour Airport (GPS), which is located 11,719 miles (18,860 kilometers) away in Baltra Island, Galápagos Islands, Ecuador.
• This project will have two phases, with the first phase expected to be completed by the end of October 2012.