Nonstop flight route between Nairobi, Kenya and Butterworth, Penang, Malaysia:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Wilson Airport (WIL), Nairobi, Kenya and RMAF Butterworth (BWH), Butterworth, Penang, Malaysia would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,412 miles (or 7,100 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 Wilson Airport and RMAF Butterworth, 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 Wilson Airport and RMAF Butterworth. 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 Wilson Airport (WIL):

• As a result of faster check-in times and fewer flight delays, as compared to Nairobi International Airport, Wilson Airport is commonly used by business executive aircraft for domestic and international travel.
• In 2012 Kiss TV did a 15-minute report called dying Wilson.
• The furthest airport from Wilson Airport (WIL) is Atuona Airport (AUQ), which is located 11,619 miles (18,698 kilometers) away in Atuona, Marquesas Islands, French Polynesia.
• The airport serves domestic and international traffic.
• The closest airport to Wilson Airport (WIL) is Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (NBO), which is located only 8 miles (12 kilometers) E of WIL.
• Because of Wilson Airport's high elevation of 5,546 feet, planes must typically fly at a faster airspeed in order to takeoff or land at WIL. Combined with a high temperature, this could make WIL a "Hot & High" airport, where the air density is lower than it would otherwise be at sea level.
• Wilson Airport (WIL) has 2 runways.

Facts about RMAF Butterworth (BWH):

• Because of RMAF Butterworth's relatively low elevation of 8 feet, planes can take off or land at RMAF Butterworth 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 RMAF Butterworth (BWH) is Cap. FAP Guillermo Concha Iberico International Airport (PIU), which is nearly antipodal to RMAF Butterworth (meaning RMAF Butterworth is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Cap. FAP Guillermo Concha Iberico International Airport), and is located 12,365 miles (19,900 kilometers) away in Piura, Peru.
• During the Malayan Emergency that was to last from 1948 to 1960, RAF as well as RAAF and RNZAF units stationed at the airfield played an active role from 1950 in helping to curb the communist insurgency in the jungles of Malaya by attacking suspected hideouts and harassing the communist guerrillas.
• In addition to being known as "RMAF Butterworth", another name for BWH is "TUDM Butterworth".
• The closest airport to RMAF Butterworth (BWH) is RMAF Butterworth (UTE), which is located only 0 mile (0 kilometer) N of BWH.
• On 30 June 1988, the airfield was handed over by RAAF to the Royal Malaysian Air Force and was renamed as RMAF Station Butterworth.
• RMAF Butterworth (BWH) currently has only 1 runway.
• RAF Butterworth was officially opened in October 1941, as a Royal Air Force station which was a part of the British defence plan for defending the Malayan Peninsula against an imminent threat of invasion by the Imperial Japanese forces during World War II.