Nonstop flight route between Rotterdam, Netherlands and Butterworth, South Africa:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Rotterdam The Hague Airport (RTM), Rotterdam, Netherlands and RMAF Butterworth (UTE), Butterworth, South Africa would travel a Great Circle distance of 6,173 miles (or 9,935 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 Rotterdam The Hague Airport and RMAF Butterworth, 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 Rotterdam The Hague Airport and RMAF Butterworth. 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 Rotterdam The Hague Airport (RTM):

• Because of Rotterdam The Hague Airport's relatively low elevation of -14 feet, planes can take off or land at Rotterdam The Hague 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 Rotterdam The Hague Airport (RTM) is Valkenburg Naval Air Base (LID), which is located only 15 miles (23 kilometers) N of RTM.
• Rotterdam The Hague Airport handled 159,014 passengers last year.
• Rotterdam The Hague Airport, located 3 NM north northwest of Rotterdam, is the Netherlands' third largest airport.
• The route with the longest continual service, to London Heathrow and operated by KLM Cityhopper, was suspended in 2008.
• Rotterdam The Hague Airport (RTM) currently has only 1 runway.
• The furthest airport from Rotterdam The Hague Airport (RTM) is Chatham Islands (CHT), which is located 11,872 miles (19,107 kilometers) away in Waitangi, Chatham Islands, New Zealand.

Facts about RMAF Butterworth (UTE):

• The furthest airport from RMAF Butterworth (UTE) is Cap. FAP Guillermo Concha Iberico International Airport (PIU), which is nearly antipodal to RMAF Butterworth (meaning RMAF Butterworth is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Cap. FAP Guillermo Concha Iberico International Airport), and is located 12,365 miles (19,900 kilometers) away in Piura, Peru.
• RAF Butterworth was officially opened in October 1941, as a Royal Air Force station which was a part of the British defence plan for defending the Malayan Peninsula against an imminent threat of invasion by the Imperial Japanese forces during World War II.
• The closest airport to RMAF Butterworth (UTE) is RMAF Butterworth (BWH), which is located only 0 mile (0 kilometer) N of UTE.
• Because of RMAF Butterworth's relatively low elevation of 8 feet, planes can take off or land at RMAF Butterworth 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.
• On 30 June 1988, the airfield was handed over by RAAF to the Royal Malaysian Air Force and was renamed as RMAF Station Butterworth.
• In addition to being known as "RMAF Butterworth", other names for UTE include "TUDM Butterworth", "BWH" and "WMKB".
• RMAF Butterworth (UTE) currently has only 1 runway.
• The RAF airfield was subsequently captured by units of the advancing 25th Army on 20 December 1941 and the control of the airbase was to remain in the hands of IJA until the end of hostilities in September 1945.