Nonstop flight route between Portland, Maine, United States and Zürich, Switzerland:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Portland International Jetport (PWM), Portland, Maine, United States and Zurich Airport (ZRH), Zürich, Switzerland would travel a Great Circle distance of 3,656 miles (or 5,883 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 Portland International Jetport 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 Portland International Jetport 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 Portland International Jetport (PWM):

• In 1995 a terminal building improvement project was undertaken to add two-second-level boarding gates, as well as additional space for ticketing, operations, departure lounge, concessions, and an international customs facility.
• That year regional Air New England began service in Portland, competing with Northeast Airlines intrastate and between Portland and Boston.
• In 1980 the passenger terminal expanded to the east with the addition of two baggage carousels.
• The present airport started to take shape in the 1950s.
• After Independence Air went bankrupt Portland had no low-cost carrier, causing fares to go up, and passenger numbers to decline.
• Portland International Jetport (PWM) has 2 runways.
• The furthest airport from Portland International Jetport (PWM) is Margaret River Airport (MGV), which is located 11,705 miles (18,838 kilometers) away in Margaret River, Western Australia, Australia.
• The closest airport to Portland International Jetport (PWM) is Naval Air Station Brunswick (NHZ), which is located 25 miles (40 kilometers) NE of PWM.
• Because of Portland International Jetport's relatively low elevation of 76 feet, planes can take off or land at Portland International Jetport 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 airport is the busiest in the state.

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.
• The closest airport to Zurich Airport (ZRH) is Emmen Swiss Air Base (EML), which is located 28 miles (45 kilometers) SSW of ZRH.
• Zurich Airport handled 24,865,138 passengers last year.
• 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.
• Zurich Airport (ZRH) has 4 runways.
• 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.
• In front of the terminal is a regional bus station and the airport stop of the Stadtbahn Glattal, a light rail system.
• The airport was again submitted and approved for renovation in 1970, and Terminal B was completed in 1971.
• In addition to being known as "Zurich Airport", another name for ZRH is "Flughafen Zürich".
• The first flights off the west runway were not until 1948.