Nonstop flight route between Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain and Buka Island, Papua New Guinea:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Tenerife North Airport (TFN), Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain and Buka Island Airport (BUA), Buka Island, Papua New Guinea would travel a Great Circle distance of 10,738 miles (or 17,281 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 Tenerife North Airport and Buka Island 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 Tenerife North Airport and Buka Island 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 Tenerife North Airport (TFN):

• Tenerife North handled 3,717,944 passengers in 2012.
• Tenerife North Airport was the scene of the Tenerife airport disaster, to date the worst accident in aviation history.
• The furthest airport from Tenerife North Airport (TFN) is Norfolk Island Airport (NLK), which is nearly antipodal to Tenerife North Airport (meaning Tenerife North Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Norfolk Island Airport), and is located 12,175 miles (19,593 kilometers) away in Norfolk Island, Australia.
• The closest airport to Tenerife North Airport (TFN) is Tenerife-South Airport (TFS), which is located 33 miles (54 kilometers) SSW of TFN.
• Many years before the airport had even been built, the field at Los Rodeos was hastily prepared to accommodate the first flight into Tenerife operated by an Arado VI aircraft operating from Berlin on behalf of Deutsche Luft Hansa.
• Tenerife North Airport handled 3,717,944 passengers last year.
• Operations into Los Rodeos recommenced on 23 January 1941 with a De Havilland DH89A Dragon Rapide operating an Iberia flight from Gando in Gran Canaria.
• In the 1977 Tenerife disaster, a PanAm and a KLM Boeing 747 collided on the runway, killing 583 people, the highest number of fatalities of any single accident in aviation history.
• Tenerife North Airport (TFN) currently has only 1 runway.
• In addition to being known as "Tenerife North Airport", another name for TFN is "Aeropuerto de Tenerife Norte".
• Tenerife North Airport, formerly Los Rodeos Airport, is one of the two international airports on the island of Tenerife, Spain.

Facts about Buka Island Airport (BUA):

• In January 1944, the Allies drove the Japanese out of Buka, and the airfield was used for operations against the Japanese over New Guinea.
• There is one navigational aid, the Buka NDB situated on nearby Sohano Island.
• The closest airport to Buka Island Airport (BUA) is Nissan Island Airport (IIS), which is located 71 miles (114 kilometers) NNW of BUA.
• Because of Buka Island Airport's relatively low elevation of 11 feet, planes can take off or land at Buka Island 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.
• Buka Island Airport (BUA) currently has only 1 runway.
• The furthest airport from Buka Island Airport (BUA) is São Filipe Airport (SFL), which is located 11,781 miles (18,959 kilometers) away in Fogo, Cape Verde.
• Today the airport is the primary air portal into Bougainville, and even 60 years after the war, wreckage from the military use of the airfield by the Japanese and Americans is easily found in the area.