Nonstop flight route between Zihuatanejo, Guerrero, Mexico and Pituffik, Greenland:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo International Airport (ZIH), Zihuatanejo, Guerrero, Mexico and Thule Air Base (THU), Pituffik, Greenland would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,233 miles (or 6,812 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 Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo International Airport and Thule Air Base, 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 Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo International Airport and Thule Air Base. 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 Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo International Airport (ZIH):

• The closest airport to Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo International Airport (ZIH) is Lázaro Cárdenas Airport (LZC), which is located 57 miles (92 kilometers) WNW of ZIH.
• Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo International Airport (ZIH) currently has only 1 runway.
• Because of Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo International Airport's relatively low elevation of 26 feet, planes can take off or land at Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo 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.
• In addition to being known as "Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo International Airport", another name for ZIH is "Aeropuerto Internacional de Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo".
• The furthest airport from Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo International Airport (ZIH) is Sir Gaëtan Duval Airport (RRG), which is located 11,433 miles (18,399 kilometers) away in Rodrigues Island, Mauritius.

Facts about Thule Air Base (THU):

• Thule is the location where the fastest recorded sea level surface wind speed in the world was measured when a peak speed of 333 kilometres per hour was recorded on 8 March 1972 prior to the instrument's destruction.
• Thule AB was constructed in secret under the code name Operation Blue Jay, but the project was made public in September 1952.
• The closest airport to Thule Air Base (THU) is Savissivik Heliport (SVR), which is located 69 miles (111 kilometers) ESE of THU.
• Thule Air Base or Thule Air Base/Pituffik Airport, is the United States Air Force's northernmost base, located 1,207 km north of the Arctic Circle and 1,524 km from the North Pole on the northwest side of the island of Greenland.
• The furthest airport from Thule Air Base (THU) is Hobart International Airport (HBA), which is located 9,883 miles (15,905 kilometers) away in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia.
• In addition to being known as "Thule Air Base", another name for THU is "Thule AB".
• A cluster of huts known as Pituffik stood on the wide plain where the base was built in 1951.
• In 1818, Sir John Ross’s expedition made first contact with nomadic Polar Eskimos in the area.
• Originally established as a Strategic Air Command installation, Thule would periodically serve as a dispersal base for B-36 Peacemaker and B-47 Stratojet aircraft during the 1950s, as well as providing an ideal site to test the operability and maintainability of these weapon systems in extreme cold weather.