Nonstop flight route between Shannon (County Clare), Ireland and Lae, Papua New Guinea, Papua New Guinea:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Shannon Airport (SNN), Shannon (County Clare), Ireland and Lae Nadzab Airport (LAE), Lae, Papua New Guinea, Papua New Guinea would travel a Great Circle distance of 8,965 miles (or 14,428 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 Shannon Airport and Lae Nadzab 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 Shannon Airport and Lae Nadzab 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 Shannon Airport (SNN):

• Shannon Airport (SNN) currently has only 1 runway.
• During the 1990s, the airport began to struggle.
• Shannon Airport is one of Ireland's three primary airports, along with Dublin and Cork.
• In addition to being known as "Shannon Airport", another name for SNN is "Aerfort na Sionainne".
• The longest runway in Ireland, at 3,199 metres, is located at Shannon.
• The closest airport to Shannon Airport (SNN) is Inisheer Aerodrome (INQ), which is located 35 miles (56 kilometers) NW of SNN.
• Because of Shannon Airport's relatively low elevation of 46 feet, planes can take off or land at Shannon 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.
• Shannon Airport handled 1,400,032 passengers last year.
• In 2011, passenger numbers at Shannon declined by 7.4% from 1,755,885, to 1,625,549.
• The 1960s proved to be difficult for Shannon Airport.
• Shannon continued to expand during the Celtic Tiger years with many services operated to the US and Canada.
• The furthest airport from Shannon Airport (SNN) is Ryan's Creek Aerodrome (SZS), which is nearly antipodal to Shannon Airport (meaning Shannon Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Ryan's Creek Aerodrome), and is located 12,015 miles (19,336 kilometers) away in Stewart Island, New Zealand.

Facts about Lae Nadzab Airport (LAE):

• The closest airport to Lae Nadzab Airport (LAE) is Bulolo Airport (BUL), which is located 45 miles (72 kilometers) S of LAE.
• In March 1942, the Japanese occupied Lae and Salamaua.
• Lae Nadzab Airport is a regional airport located at Nadzab 42 kilometres outside of Lae, Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea along the Highlands Highway.
• Lae Nadzab Airport (LAE) currently has only 1 runway.
• Because of Lae Nadzab Airport's relatively low elevation of 239 feet, planes can take off or land at Lae Nadzab 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 Lae Nadzab Airport (LAE) is Governador Carlos Wilson Airport (FEN), which is located 11,714 miles (18,852 kilometers) away in Fernando de Noronha, Pernambuco, Brazil.
• In about 1910 the Gabmatsung/Gabmazung Lutheran mission station was established at Nadzab.
• In 1962, the main strip at Nadzab was resealed by the Australian Commonwealth Department of Works and lengthened to make it suitable for Mirage fighters, even though they never materialised.
• The airfield in Lae was operating at the same time as Nadzab but business was significantly lost to the new airport complex became fully operational in 1977.