Nonstop flight route between Wellington, New Zealand and Zürich, Switzerland:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Wellington International Airport (WLG), Wellington, New Zealand and Zurich Airport (ZRH), Zürich, Switzerland would travel a Great Circle distance of 11,638 miles (or 18,730 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 Wellington International Airport and Zurich 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 Wellington International Airport and Zurich 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 Wellington International Airport (WLG):

• Wellington International Airport (WLG) currently has only 1 runway.
• Because of Wellington International Airport's relatively low elevation of 42 feet, planes can take off or land at Wellington 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.
• The main terminal building contains a common check-in area on the first floor and a common baggage claim area on the ground floor.
• The furthest airport from Wellington International Airport (WLG) is Salamanca-Matacán Airport (SLM), which is nearly antipodal to Wellington International Airport (meaning Wellington International Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Salamanca-Matacán Airport), and is located 12,406 miles (19,966 kilometers) away in Salamanca, Spain.
• Rongotai Airport started with a grass runway in November 1929.
• A proposal to relocate the terminal from the east side to the site of the Miramar Golf Course was put forward in 1956.
• The airport comprises a small 110-hectare site on the Rongotai isthmus, a stretch of low-lying land between Wellington proper and the Miramar Peninsula.
• The airport, in addition to linking many New Zealand destinations with national and regional carriers, also has links to major cities in eastern Australia.
• Wellington will be spending $40 million expanding its south west pier at the domestic terminal to cope with increased passengers numbers work is expected to be finished in 2015.
• The closest airport to Wellington International Airport (WLG) is Kapiti Coast Airport (PPQ), which is located 31 miles (49 kilometers) NNE of WLG.
• Wellington's original domestic terminal was built as a temporary measure inside a corrugated iron hangar, originally used to assemble de Havilland aircraft.

Facts about Zurich Airport (ZRH):

• Swiss International Air Lines has an office on the property of Zurich Airport and in Kloten, consisting of the Alpha, Bravo, and Charlie buildings.Swiss World Cargo has its head office in the Alpha and Bravo buildings.Swiss Private Aviation has its head office in the Swiss complex.Swiss European Air Lines and Swiss AviationTraining, subsidiaries of Swiss, are also headquartered on the airport property.
• Zurich Airport handled 24,865,138 passengers last year.
• In 2003, Zurich Airport completed a major expansion project in which it built a new parking garage, a new midfield terminal, and an automated underground train to link the midfield terminal to the main terminal.
• The furthest airport from Zurich Airport (ZRH) is Chatham Islands (CHT), which is nearly antipodal to Zurich Airport (meaning Zurich Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Chatham Islands), and is located 12,087 miles (19,453 kilometers) away in Waitangi, Chatham Islands, New Zealand.
• The closest airport to Zurich Airport (ZRH) is Emmen Swiss Air Base (EML), which is located 28 miles (45 kilometers) SSW of ZRH.
• Zurich Airport (ZRH) has 4 runways.
• The first flights off the west runway were not until 1948.
• In addition to being known as "Zurich Airport", another name for ZRH is "Flughafen Zürich".
• The first expansion of the airport was submitted in 1956, but the budget for the expansion was not approved by the Swiss Government until 1958 and the expansion was completed in 1961.