Nonstop flight route between Upington, South Africa and Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Upington Airport (UTN), Upington, South Africa and Darwin International Airport (DRW), Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia would travel a Great Circle distance of 6,960 miles (or 11,200 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 Upington Airport and Darwin International 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 Upington Airport and Darwin International 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 Upington Airport (UTN):

• Upington Airport was opened in 1968 as Pierre van Ryneveld Airport.
• The closest airport to Upington Airport (UTN) is Johan Pienaar Airport (KMH), which is located 147 miles (236 kilometers) ENE of UTN.
• With the fall of the Portuguese regime in Angola, South African Airways lost its landing rights in Luanda.
• Many major car manufacturers bring their cars and commercial vehicles to Upington to test them in the hot dry and sunny conditions.
• Planning is also under way at Upington Airport to construct a facility for the long-term parking of mothballed aircraft.
• Upington Airport (UTN) has 3 runways.
• The furthest airport from Upington Airport (UTN) is Princeville Airport (HPV), which is nearly antipodal to Upington Airport (meaning Upington Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Princeville Airport), and is located 12,007 miles (19,323 kilometers) away in Hanalei, Hawaii, United States.

Facts about Darwin International Airport (DRW):

• The closest airport to Darwin International Airport (DRW) is Bathurst Island Airport (BRT), which is located 48 miles (77 kilometers) NNW of DRW.
• In 2008 the Australian Infrastructure Fund, which holds 28.2% of Northern Territory Airports, announced that the airport would undergo a $60 million expansion to cater for growing passenger numbers.
• Darwin International Airport (DRW) has 2 runways.
• Commercial passenger aircraft most commonly seen at Darwin International Airport include Airbus A319, A320 and A330, Boeing 717, 737 and 767, Beechcraft 1900, Fokker 100, de Havilland Canada Dash 7, Bombardier Dash 8, Embraer E170, Embraer E190 and Embraer EMB 120 Brasilia.
• Cyclone Tracy hit Darwin in 1974 and flattened the city.
• The furthest airport from Darwin International Airport (DRW) is Cayenne – Félix Eboué Airport (CAY), which is located 11,867 miles (19,099 kilometers) away in Cayenne, French Guiana.
• It frequently took hits from Japanese bombing through the Second World War, and was used by the Allies to project air power into the Pacific.
• In addition to being known as "Darwin International Airport", another name for DRW is "RAAF Base Darwin".
• In April 2009 Garuda Indonesia suspended the Denpasar service from Darwin after nearly 30 years of service, citing "economic reasons".
• In 1919, when the England to Australia air race was announced, Parap Airfield was established in the suburb of Parap to act as the Australian Terminal.
• Darwin International Airport handled 1,743,734 passengers last year.
• Because of Darwin International Airport's relatively low elevation of 103 feet, planes can take off or land at Darwin International 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.