Nonstop flight route between Waterford, Ireland and Exmouth, Western Australia, Australia:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Waterford Airport (WAT), Waterford, Ireland and RAAF Learmonth (LEA), Exmouth, Western Australia, Australia would travel a Great Circle distance of 8,730 miles (or 14,050 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 RAAF Learmonth, 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 RAAF Learmonth. 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):

• On 13 March 2007 a €27.5 million upgrade of Waterford Airport was announced.
• Flybe announced a route to Manchester starting 22 May 2013, which was dropped by Aer Lingus Regional on 6 January.
• 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 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".
• The closest airport to Waterford Airport (WAT) is Kilkenny Airport (KKY), which is located 33 miles (53 kilometers) NNW of WAT.
• Waterford Airport handled 8,000 passengers last year.
• 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.
• The nearest bus and coach station is 10km away in Waterford from where Bus Éireann provides services to Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Rosslare Europort, Wexford, Clonmel and Tramore.
• 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.
• Waterford Airport, is 4.9 NM south-east of Waterford.

Facts about RAAF Learmonth (LEA):

• The closest airport to RAAF Learmonth (LEA) is Barrow Island Airport (BWB), which is located 127 miles (204 kilometers) NE of LEA.
• The furthest airport from RAAF Learmonth (LEA) is Fernando Luis Ribas Dominicci Airport (SIG), which is nearly antipodal to RAAF Learmonth (meaning RAAF Learmonth is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Fernando Luis Ribas Dominicci Airport), and is located 12,175 miles (19,594 kilometers) away in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
• In the mid-1960s, the Federal Government gave its support to plans by the Chief of the Air Staff, Air Marshal Val Hancock, to redevelop Learmonth as a 'bare base', due to its proximity to Indonesia.
• RAAF Learmonth (LEA) currently has only 1 runway.
• Learmonth Airport was ranked 49th in Australia for the number of revenue passengers served in financial year 2012-2013.
• In addition to being known as "RAAF Learmonth", another name for LEA is "Learmonth Airport".
• RAAF Learmonth handled 90,861 passengers last year.
• The RAAF also operates the Learmonth Air Weapons Range which covers about 18,954 ha and is located 30 km south-west of the airbase.
• Because of RAAF Learmonth's relatively low elevation of 19 feet, planes can take off or land at RAAF Learmonth 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.
• On 7 October 2008, Qantas Flight 72 made an emergency landing at RAAF Learmonth.