Nonstop flight route between Port Elizabeth, South Africa and Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Port Elizabeth International Airport (PLZ), Port Elizabeth, South Africa and Cologne/Bonn Airport (CGN), Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,970 miles (or 9,607 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 Port Elizabeth International Airport and Cologne/Bonn 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 Port Elizabeth International Airport and Cologne/Bonn 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 Port Elizabeth International Airport (PLZ):

• June, 2010 - South African Airways operated an Airbus A340-200 to Port Elizabeth to help manage the extra volume of people during the FIFA World Cup 2010.
• A highlight in Port Elizabeth's history was the first flight to Port Elizabeth from Cape Town in 1917, made by Major Allister Mackintosh Miller.
• The closest airport to Port Elizabeth International Airport (PLZ) is Port Alfred Airport (AFD), which is located 79 miles (127 kilometers) ENE of PLZ.
• The airport resides at an elevation of 226 feet above mean sea level.
• The airport is located approximately two miles south of the city's central business district.
• Port Elizabeth International Airport (PLZ) has 2 runways.
• The furthest airport from Port Elizabeth International Airport (PLZ) is Princeville Airport (HPV), which is located 11,567 miles (18,615 kilometers) away in Hanalei, Hawaii, United States.
• These facilities served the community till 2000 when plans for a major terminal upgrade was drawn-up.
• Because of Port Elizabeth International Airport's relatively low elevation of 226 feet, planes can take off or land at Port Elizabeth 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.
• 17 May 2004 - John Travolta landed his personal Qantas Boeing 707 at the airport directly from Mauritius as he was visiting a nearby private game reserve.

Facts about Cologne/Bonn Airport (CGN):

• Because of Cologne/Bonn Airport's relatively low elevation of 302 feet, planes can take off or land at Cologne/Bonn 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.
• Cologne/Bonn Airport (CGN) has 3 runways.
• In 1913 the first plane took off from the Wahner Heide military training area on an artillery reconnaissance flight.
• The furthest airport from Cologne/Bonn Airport (CGN) is Chatham Islands (CHT), which is located 11,921 miles (19,185 kilometers) away in Waitangi, Chatham Islands, New Zealand.
• Cologne/Bonn Airport handled 9,280,070 passengers last year.
• Ryanair and Norwegian began service to Cologne/Bonn in May 2012.
• In addition to being known as "Cologne/Bonn Airport", another name for CGN is "Flughafen Köln/Bonn".
• Cologne/Bonn Airport station is a railway station on a loop off the Cologne–Frankfurt high-speed line that connects Cologne Bonn Airport to long-distance trains at least once an hour per direction, most of them ICE services.
• The closest airport to Cologne/Bonn Airport (CGN) is Düsseldorf Airport (DUS), which is located 34 miles (54 kilometers) NNW of CGN.