Nonstop flight route between Zürich, Switzerland and Washington, D.C. / Virginia, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Zurich Airport (ZRH), Zürich, Switzerland and Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD), Washington, D.C. / Virginia, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,147 miles (or 6,673 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 Zurich Airport and Washington Dulles International 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 Zurich Airport and Washington Dulles International 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 Zurich Airport (ZRH):

• Zurich Airport (ZRH) has 4 runways.
• In front of the terminal is a regional bus station and the airport stop of the Stadtbahn Glattal, a light rail system.
• The first flight abroad from Switzerland was on July 21, 1921, but the search for a location for a major airport wasn’t started until 1943 inside the Canton of Zürich.
• 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.
• 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.
• The noise of aircraft became an issue and a noise charge was instituted in 1980, and in 1984, an agreement was made regarding arrivals and departures to the airport via German airspace.
• In addition to being known as "Zurich Airport", another name for ZRH is "Flughafen Zürich".
• The closest airport to Zurich Airport (ZRH) is Emmen Swiss Air Base (EML), which is located 28 miles (45 kilometers) SSW of ZRH.

Facts about Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD):

• Conceived in early planning sessions in 1959, Dulles is one of the few remaining airports to use the mobile lounge for boarding and disembarkation from aircraft, and to transfer passengers between the midfield concourses and to and from the main terminal building.
• The closest airport to Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD) is Leesburg Executive Airport (JYO), which is located only 11 miles (17 kilometers) NNW of IAD.
• The main terminal was extended in 1996 to 1,240 feet —Saarinen's original design length—which was slightly more than double its originally constructed length of 600 feet.
• By the 1980s, the original design, which had mobile lounges meet each plane, was no longer well-suited to Dulles' role as a hub airport.
• Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD) has 5 runways.
• Because of Washington Dulles International Airport's relatively low elevation of 313 feet, planes can take off or land at Washington Dulles 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 civil engineering firm Ammann and Whitney was named lead contractor.
• Since many major domestic and international airlines have a large presence at Washington Dulles, there are several airline lounges in active operation there.
• The furthest airport from Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD) is Margaret River Airport (MGV), which is located 11,659 miles (18,763 kilometers) away in Margaret River, Western Australia, Australia.