Nonstop flight route between Lajes, Azores, Portugal and Zürich, Switzerland:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Lajes Air Base (TER), Lajes, Azores, Portugal and Zurich Airport (ZRH), Zürich, Switzerland would travel a Great Circle distance of 1,876 miles (or 3,020 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 relatively short distance between Lajes Air Base and Zurich Airport, the route shown on this map most likely still appears to be a straight line.

Departure Airport Information:

Arrival Airport Information:

Facts about Lajes Air Base (TER):

• The closest airport to Lajes Air Base (TER) is Graciosa Airport (GRW), which is located 55 miles (89 kilometers) WNW of TER.
• During the 1973 Yom Kippur War, Lajes Field also supported U.S.
• Lajes Air Base (TER) currently has only 1 runway.
• In 2009 Lajes provided rescue support of shipping lanes across the Atlantic, a safe haven for medical or mechanical emergency situations in aircraft crossing the Atlantic, and support for the USAF's continuing campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan.
• The furthest airport from Lajes Air Base (TER) is Merimbula Airport (MIM), which is nearly antipodal to Lajes Air Base (meaning Lajes Air Base is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Merimbula Airport), and is located 12,229 miles (19,680 kilometers) away in Merimbula, New South Wales, Australia.
• In addition to being known as "Lajes Air Base", other names for TER include "Base Aérea das Lajes", "Base Aérea Nº 4" and "Aeroporto das Lajes".
• In 1947, the Portuguese Esquadra 41 started to operate from Lajes, equipped with Boeing SB-17, Grumman HU-16 Albatross, Douglas C-54 Skymaster and, later Sikorsky H-19.
• Because of Lajes Air Base's relatively low elevation of 180 feet, planes can take off or land at Lajes Air Base 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.
• Lajes provides support to 15,000 aircraft, including fighters from the US and 20 other allied nations each.

Facts about Zurich Airport (ZRH):

• The furthest airport from Zurich Airport (ZRH) is Chatham Islands (CHT), which is nearly antipodal to Zurich Airport (meaning Zurich Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Chatham Islands), and is located 12,087 miles (19,453 kilometers) away in Waitangi, Chatham Islands, New Zealand.
• Zurich Airport (ZRH) has 4 runways.
• The first flight abroad from Switzerland was on July 21, 1921, but the search for a location for a major airport wasn’t started until 1943 inside the Canton of Zürich.
• The closest airport to Zurich Airport (ZRH) is Emmen Swiss Air Base (EML), which is located 28 miles (45 kilometers) SSW of ZRH.
• In addition to being known as "Zurich Airport", another name for ZRH is "Flughafen Zürich".
• The first expansion of the airport was submitted in 1956, but the budget for the expansion was not approved by the Swiss Government until 1958 and the expansion was completed in 1961.
• Schengen and non-Schengen arriving passengers are handled in separate areas of the central airside building, with non-Schengen passengers passing through immigration controls to reach the ground-side terminal complex.
• The airport is served by the A51 motorway and other main roads, which provide access to the airport especially for the central and eastern Switzerland.
• When Swissair existed, its head office was at Zurich Airport and in Kloten.
• Zurich Airport handled 24,865,138 passengers last year.