Nonstop flight route between Grand Canyon, Arizona, United States and Paraparaumu Beach, New Zealand:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Valle Airport (VLE), Grand Canyon, Arizona, United States and Kapiti Coast Airport (PPQ), Paraparaumu Beach, New Zealand would travel a Great Circle distance of 7,018 miles (or 11,295 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 Valle Airport and Kapiti Coast 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 Valle Airport and Kapiti Coast 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 Valle Airport (VLE):

• For the 12-month period ending April 20, 2009, the airport had 6,500 general aviation aircraft operations, an average of 18 per day.
• In addition to being known as "Valle Airport", another name for VLE is "40G".
• Because of Valle Airport's high elevation of 5,999 feet, planes must typically fly at a faster airspeed in order to takeoff or land at VLE. Combined with a high temperature, this could make VLE a "Hot & High" airport, where the air density is lower than it would otherwise be at sea level.
• Valle Airport (VLE) currently has only 1 runway.
• The furthest airport from Valle Airport (VLE) is Sir Gaëtan Duval Airport (RRG), which is located 11,305 miles (18,194 kilometers) away in Rodrigues Island, Mauritius.
• The closest airport to Valle Airport (VLE) is Grand Canyon National Park Airport (GCN), which is located 21 miles (34 kilometers) N of VLE.

Facts about Kapiti Coast Airport (PPQ):

• Constructed by the Royal New Zealand Air Force in July 1939 using equipment from Whenuapai, Paraparaumu was made available as an "Emergency Airport" by the government.
• The closest airport to Kapiti Coast Airport (PPQ) is Wellington International Airport (WLG), which is located 31 miles (49 kilometers) SSW of PPQ.
• On 17 February 2008, above an adjacent hardware store, Placemakers, there was a triple-fatality mid-air collision between a Cessna 152 and a helicopter, both of which plummeted from approximately 1500 ft, the helicopter into the store and the plane into a nearby street.
• The furthest airport from Kapiti Coast Airport (PPQ) is Salamanca-Matacán Airport (SLM), which is nearly antipodal to Kapiti Coast Airport (meaning Kapiti Coast Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Salamanca-Matacán Airport), and is located 12,411 miles (19,973 kilometers) away in Salamanca, Spain.
• Kapiti Coast Airport (PPQ) has 3 runways.
• As recently as 1992, alternate sites for a new airport for Wellington were investigated, including Paraparaumu, but a decision was made to upgrade Wellington Airport's existing site.
• This re-development was spurred by interest from Air New Zealand to operate Q300 aircraft.
• Because of Kapiti Coast Airport's relatively low elevation of 22 feet, planes can take off or land at Kapiti Coast 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.