Nonstop flight route between Waterford, Ireland and Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Waterford Airport (WAT), Waterford, Ireland and King Shaka International (DUR), Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa would travel a Great Circle distance of 6,106 miles (or 9,826 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 Waterford Airport and King Shaka International, 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 Waterford Airport and King Shaka International. 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 Waterford Airport (WAT):

• Passengers numbers through Waterford Airport in 2009 fall due to routes being suspended to Bordeaux, Faro, Malaga and Amsterdam and service reductions on routes to Birmingham, London Luton and Manchester.
• Because of Waterford Airport's relatively low elevation of 119 feet, planes can take off or land at Waterford 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.
• The airport opened in 1981 with a 1,200 by 29 m runway for single and twin-engine light aircraft and a portable cabin as terminal building.
• Waterford Airport handled 8,000 passengers last year.
• The closest airport to Waterford Airport (WAT) is Kilkenny Airport (KKY), which is located 33 miles (53 kilometers) NNW of WAT.
• Flybe announced a route to Manchester starting 22 May 2013, which was dropped by Aer Lingus Regional on 6 January.
• Between 1987 and 1988 Aer Lingus operated services to Dublin.
• The furthest airport from Waterford Airport (WAT) is Ryan's Creek Aerodrome (SZS), which is nearly antipodal to Waterford Airport (meaning Waterford Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Ryan's Creek Aerodrome), and is located 12,013 miles (19,333 kilometers) away in Stewart Island, New Zealand.
• In addition to being known as "Waterford Airport", another name for WAT is "Aerfort Phort Láirge".
• On 12 May 2010 Aer Arann announced an expansion of services from Waterford to London and Galway.

Facts about King Shaka International (DUR):

• The closest airport to King Shaka International (DUR) is Pietermaritzburg Airport (PZB), which is located 43 miles (69 kilometers) W of DUR.
• King Shaka International (DUR) currently has only 1 runway.
• On 27 January 2014 the worlds largest passenger aircraft, an Airbus A380-800 of British Airways landed at KSIA becoming the first A380 to do so.
• It is unclear what the fate of the existing Durban International Airport will be now that KSIA is complete.
• One of the objectives of the cargo terminal is to recapture local air freight traffic from JNB.
• In response to the study, ACSA contracted De-Tect Inc.
• The furthest airport from King Shaka International (DUR) is Hana Airport (HNM), which is located 11,682 miles (18,801 kilometers) away in Hana, Hawaii, United States.
• Because of King Shaka International's relatively low elevation of 295 feet, planes can take off or land at King Shaka International 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.