Nonstop flight route between Richland, Washington, United States and Tawau, Sabah, Malaysia:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Richland Airport (RLD), Richland, Washington, United States and Tawau Airport (TWU), Tawau, Sabah, Malaysia would travel a Great Circle distance of 7,493 miles (or 12,059 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 Tawau 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 Tawau 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):

• Richland Airport (RLD) has 2 runways.
• 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 is a public airport located two miles northwest of the central business district of Richland, a city in Benton County, Washington, United States.
• The closest airport to Richland Airport (RLD) is Tri-Cities Airport (PSC), which is located only 9 miles (15 kilometers) ESE of 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.

Facts about Tawau Airport (TWU):

• In 2008, 768,967 passengers went through the airport with 10,546 aircraft movements.
• In addition to being known as "Tawau Airport", another name for TWU is "Lapangan Terbang Tawau".
• The closest airport to Tawau Airport (TWU) is Nunukan Airport (NNX), which is located 34 miles (54 kilometers) WSW of TWU.
• Tawau Airport (TWU) currently has only 1 runway.
• At present, this airport is being expanded to accommodate medium wide-body aircraft with 2 aero bridges.
• Because of Tawau Airport's relatively low elevation of 57 feet, planes can take off or land at Tawau 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.
• During the early days, Tawau airport was located on Jalan Utara, literally known as Northern road about 2 mi away from Tawau.
• The airport was subsequently opened to public in December 2001.
• However on 15 September 1995, a Malaysian Airlines Fokker 50 from Kota Kinabalu touched down 500 m before the end of the 2,200 m long runway.
• The furthest airport from Tawau Airport (TWU) is Coari Airport (CIZ), which is nearly antipodal to Tawau Airport (meaning Tawau Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Coari Airport), and is located 12,350 miles (19,875 kilometers) away in Coari, Amazonas, Brazil.
• Tawau Airport is located at Balung, 3 km further in from the Pan Borneo Highway.
• Tawau Airport handled 1,202,344 passengers last year.