Nonstop flight route between Shannon (County Clare), Ireland and Wanaka, New Zealand:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Shannon Airport (SNN), Shannon (County Clare), Ireland and Wanaka Airport (WKA), Wanaka, New Zealand would travel a Great Circle distance of 11,879 miles (or 19,118 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 Wanaka 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 Wanaka 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):

• Delta Air Lines operated to Atlanta until 2007.
• Shannon Airport handled 1,400,032 passengers last year.
• Shannon Airport (SNN) currently has only 1 runway.
• In addition to being known as "Shannon Airport", another name for SNN is "Aerfort na Sionainne".
• It has been hinted that a route to Amsterdam Airport Schiphol or Frankfurt Airport could commence in 2015.
• The number of international carriers rose sharply in succeeding years as Shannon became well known as the gateway between Europe and the Americas.
• In 2011, passenger numbers at Shannon declined by 7.4% from 1,755,885, to 1,625,549.
• The longest runway in Ireland, at 3,199 metres, is located at Shannon.
• 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.
• In December 2012, it was announced that Shannon Airport would separate from the Dublin Airport Authority, who still own Dublin and Cork airports.
• In 1966, Aer Lingus began service between Shannon and Chicago, with a stop in Montréal, 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.
• The closest airport to Shannon Airport (SNN) is Inisheer Aerodrome (INQ), which is located 35 miles (56 kilometers) NW of SNN.
• In the late 1930s, transatlantic air traffic was dominated by flying boats, and a flying boat terminal was located at Foynes on the south side of the Shannon Estuary.

Facts about Wanaka Airport (WKA):

• Wanaka Airport is the airport servicing the town of Wanaka, Otago, New Zealand and the surrounding ski fields.
• Scheduled services were operated by Air New Zealand's 19 seater Beechcraft 1900D to Christchurch, this finished on 30 January 2013.
• At the moment the runway's PCN value is too low to cope with heavier aircraft, along with restrictions on the passenger capacity of aircraft due to the limited airport facilities, however larger aircraft can operate into the airport, usually on charter services.
• The furthest airport from Wanaka Airport (WKA) is A Coruña Airport (LCG), which is nearly antipodal to Wanaka Airport (meaning Wanaka Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from A Coruña Airport), and is located 12,283 miles (19,768 kilometers) away in A Coruña, Spain.
• Wanaka Airport (WKA) currently has only 1 runway.
• The closest airport to Wanaka Airport (WKA) is Queenstown Airport (ZQN), which is located 32 miles (52 kilometers) SW of WKA.
• The lack of a VHF omnidirectional range beacon at the airport poses an issue for some aircraft.