Nonstop flight route between Chicago/Prospect Heights/Wheeling, Illinois, United States and Zürich, Switzerland:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Chicago Executive Airport (PWK), Chicago/Prospect Heights/Wheeling, Illinois, United States and Zurich Airport (ZRH), Zürich, Switzerland would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,424 miles (or 7,120 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 Chicago Executive 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 Chicago Executive 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 Chicago Executive Airport (PWK):

• The airport covers 411 acres at an elevation of 647 feet.
• The furthest airport from Chicago Executive Airport (PWK) is Margaret River Airport (MGV), which is located 11,069 miles (17,813 kilometers) away in Margaret River, Western Australia, Australia.
• Chicago Executive Airport (PWK) has 3 runways.
• The closest airport to Chicago Executive Airport (PWK) is Chicago O'Hare International Airport (ORD), which is located only 9 miles (15 kilometers) S of PWK.
• Tenants of the airport include two national fixed base operators, Atlantic Aviation and Signature Flight Support, who provide fueling and handling for transient aircraft and a significant portion of the locally based aircraft.
• The airport opened in 1925 as Gauthier's Flying Field.
• Because of Chicago Executive Airport's relatively low elevation of 647 feet, planes can take off or land at Chicago Executive 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.

Facts about Zurich Airport (ZRH):

• Schengen and non-Schengen arriving passengers are handled in separate areas of the central airside building, with non-Schengen passengers passing through immigration controls to reach the ground-side terminal complex.
• Zurich Airport handled 24,865,138 passengers last year.
• Edelweiss Air has its head office in the Edelweiss Air Operations Center on the airport grounds.gategroup has its head office on the airport property.Helvetic Airways has its head office on the grounds of the airport in Kloten.
• In addition to being known as "Zurich Airport", another name for ZRH is "Flughafen Zürich".
• 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.
• 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 lost a lot of traffic when Swissair shut down its operations.
• Zurich Airport (ZRH) has 4 runways.
• The closest airport to Zurich Airport (ZRH) is Emmen Swiss Air Base (EML), which is located 28 miles (45 kilometers) SSW of ZRH.
• The first expansion of the airport was submitted in 1956, but the budget for the expansion was not approved by the Swiss Government until 1958 and the expansion was completed in 1961.
• The airport has three airside piers, which are known as docks A, B and E.