Nonstop flight route between Pago Pago, American Samoa and Zürich, Switzerland:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Pago Pago International Airport (PPG), Pago Pago, American Samoa and Zurich Airport (ZRH), Zürich, Switzerland would travel a Great Circle distance of 10,144 miles (or 16,324 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 Pago Pago International Airport and Zurich 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 Pago Pago International Airport and Zurich 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 Pago Pago International Airport (PPG):

• Tasman Empire Airways Limited, or TEAL, the predecessor to what is now Air New Zealand, offered Douglas DC-6 flights from Nadi to Pago Pago and onwards to Tahiti in 1954 as part of its Coral Route Service.
• A new US$12+ million Aircraft Rescue and Firefighting Fire Crash station was completed in 2005.
• Pago Pago International Airport had historic significance with the U.S.
• The furthest airport from Pago Pago International Airport (PPG) is Zinder Airport (ZND), which is nearly antipodal to Pago Pago International Airport (meaning Pago Pago International Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Zinder Airport), and is located 12,396 miles (19,950 kilometers) away in Zinder, Niger.
• Pago Pago International Airport and the original Tafuna Airfield military facilities were first used for commercial trans pacific air service in November 1946 when Pan American Airways resumed service from Honolulu to Australia and New Zealand.
• The closest airport to Pago Pago International Airport (PPG) is Ofu Airport (OFU), which is located 69 miles (112 kilometers) E of PPG.
• Pago Pago International Airport (PPG) has 2 runways.
• The airport was a vital link to the Samoan Islands until the runway at Faleolo International Airport in Independent Samoa was improved and lengthened to handle larger than Boeing 737 type aircraft in 1984.
• Because of Pago Pago International Airport's relatively low elevation of 32 feet, planes can take off or land at Pago Pago 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.
• It was also used for inter island air service between Faleolo, Western Samoa and Pago Pago in 1959 by newly formed, Apia-based Polynesian Airlines and short-lived, Pago Pago-based Samoa Airways using ex-military Douglas C-47B-45-DK type aircraft.

Facts about Zurich Airport (ZRH):

• Rega, the air rescue service, has its head office in the Rega Centre, a hangar located in the northeast section of Zurich Airport.
• Zurich Airport handled 24,865,138 passengers last year.
• The closest airport to Zurich Airport (ZRH) is Emmen Swiss Air Base (EML), which is located 28 miles (45 kilometers) SSW of ZRH.
• In addition to being known as "Zurich Airport", another name for ZRH is "Flughafen Zürich".
• The furthest airport from Zurich Airport (ZRH) is Chatham Islands (CHT), which is nearly antipodal to Zurich Airport (meaning Zurich Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Chatham Islands), and is located 12,087 miles (19,453 kilometers) away in Waitangi, Chatham Islands, New Zealand.
• The airport lost a lot of traffic when Swissair shut down its operations.
• The first flight abroad from Switzerland was on July 21, 1921, but the search for a location for a major airport wasn’t started until 1943 inside the Canton of Zürich.
• In 2003, Zurich Airport completed a major expansion project in which it built a new parking garage, a new midfield terminal, and an automated underground train to link the midfield terminal to the main terminal.
• Zurich Airport (ZRH) has 4 runways.