Nonstop flight route between Richland, Washington, United States and Las Palmas, Canary Islands, Spain:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Richland Airport (RLD), Richland, Washington, United States and Gran Canaria Airport (LPA), Las Palmas, Canary Islands, Spain would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,454 miles (or 8,777 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 Richland Airport and Gran Canaria 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 Richland Airport and Gran Canaria 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 Richland Airport (RLD):

• Because of Richland Airport's relatively low elevation of 394 feet, planes can take off or land at Richland 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 furthest airport from Richland Airport (RLD) is Tôlanaro Airport (FTU), which is located 10,783 miles (17,353 kilometers) away in Tôlanaro, Madagascar.
• Richland Airport (RLD) has 2 runways.
• The closest airport to Richland Airport (RLD) is Tri-Cities Airport (PSC), which is located only 9 miles (15 kilometers) ESE of RLD.
• For the 12-month period ending July 31, 2007, the airport had 29,000 general aviation aircraft operations, an average of 79 per day.

Facts about Gran Canaria Airport (LPA):

• In December 2010, low cost carrier Ryanair announced the opening of 3 new bases on the Canary Islands.
• Military activity was most intense during the mid 1970s, at the time of the crisis of decolonisation of Western Sahara and its occupation by Morocco.
• The Canary Islands Air Command is based in the city of Las Palmas.
• The furthest airport from Gran Canaria Airport (LPA) is Norfolk Island Airport (NLK), which is nearly antipodal to Gran Canaria Airport (meaning Gran Canaria Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Norfolk Island Airport), and is located 12,221 miles (19,667 kilometers) away in Norfolk Island, Australia.
• The airport is located in the eastern part of Gran Canaria on the Bay of Gando, 19 km south of center of the city of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, and 25 km from the popular tourist areas in the south.
• Gran Canaria Airport handled 9,770,253 passengers last year.
• In 1970, work began on the current passenger terminal that is being used to operate flights today.
• In 2011 it handled over 10.5 million passengers, an 11.1% increase compared to 2010, and 23,7 million tonnes of cargo.
• Because of Gran Canaria Airport's relatively low elevation of 78 feet, planes can take off or land at Gran Canaria 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.
• Gran Canaria Airport (LPA) has 2 runways.
• The closest airport to Gran Canaria Airport (LPA) is Tenerife North Airport (TFN), which is located 69 miles (112 kilometers) WNW of LPA.
• In 1946, the old passenger terminal opened, which took two years to build.
• In addition to being known as "Gran Canaria Airport", another name for LPA is "Aeropuerto de Gran Canaria".