Nonstop flight route between Port Heiden, Alaska, United States and Zürich, Switzerland:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Port Heiden Airport (PTH), Port Heiden, Alaska, United States and Zurich Airport (ZRH), Zürich, Switzerland would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,184 miles (or 8,343 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 Heiden 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 Port Heiden 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 Port Heiden Airport (PTH):

• On April 30, 2008, a Cessna Citation Excel business jet veered off the gravel runway 23 upon landing in a crosswind.
• Because of Port Heiden Airport's relatively low elevation of 95 feet, planes can take off or land at Port Heiden 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 closest airport to Port Heiden Airport (PTH) is Chignik Fisheries Airport (KCG), which is located 44 miles (71 kilometers) S of PTH.
• The furthest airport from Port Heiden Airport (PTH) is George Airport (GRJ), which is located 10,850 miles (17,462 kilometers) away in George, South Africa.
• Port Heiden Airport is a state owned, public use airport located six nautical miles northeast of the central business district of Port Heiden, in the Lake and Peninsula Borough of the U.S.
• In addition to being known as "Port Heiden Airport", other names for PTH include "Port Heiden Air Force Station" and "Fort Morrow Army Airfield".
• The airport was built in 1942 after the World War II Japanese attack on the Aleutian Islands.
• Port Heiden Airport (PTH) has 2 runways.

Facts about Zurich Airport (ZRH):

• 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.
• Zurich Airport handled 24,865,138 passengers last year.
• The airport has three airside piers, which are known as docks A, B and E.
• Zurich Airport (ZRH) has 4 runways.
• 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 first flights off the west runway were not until 1948.
• The airport is served by the A51 motorway and other main roads, which provide access to the airport especially for the central and eastern Switzerland.
• In addition to being known as "Zurich Airport", another name for ZRH is "Flughafen Zürich".
• Rega, the air rescue service, has its head office in the Rega Centre, a hangar located in the northeast section of Zurich Airport.
• The closest airport to Zurich Airport (ZRH) is Emmen Swiss Air Base (EML), which is located 28 miles (45 kilometers) SSW of ZRH.