Nonstop flight route between Zürich, Switzerland and Chicago, Illinois, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Zurich Airport (ZRH), Zürich, Switzerland and Chicago O'Hare International Airport (ORD), Chicago, Illinois, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,431 miles (or 7,131 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 Chicago O'Hare 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 Chicago O'Hare 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):

• The closest airport to Zurich Airport (ZRH) is Emmen Swiss Air Base (EML), which is located 28 miles (45 kilometers) SSW of ZRH.
• Rega, the air rescue service, has its head office in the Rega Centre, a hangar located in the northeast section of Zurich Airport.
• In addition to being known as "Zurich Airport", another name for ZRH is "Flughafen Zürich".
• In front of the terminal is a regional bus station and the airport stop of the Stadtbahn Glattal, a light rail system.
• Zurich Airport (ZRH) has 4 runways.
• 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 airport was again submitted and approved for renovation in 1970, and Terminal B was completed in 1971.
• Zurich Airport handled 24,865,138 passengers last year.

Facts about Chicago O'Hare International Airport (ORD):

• The closest airport to Chicago O'Hare International Airport (ORD) is Chicago Executive Airport (PWK), which is located only 9 miles (15 kilometers) N of ORD.
• In 1953, while traveling to an airshow at Naval Air Station Glenview in Chicago, Illinois, Blue Angels pilot LT Harding MacKnight experienced an engine flameout in his F7U Cutlass, forcing him to make an emergency landing at NAS Glenview.
• A$80 million renovation of Concourse G in Terminal 3 designed by Teng & Associates, Inc.
• The furthest airport from Chicago O'Hare International Airport (ORD) is Margaret River Airport (MGV), which is located 11,071 miles (17,817 kilometers) away in Margaret River, Western Australia, Australia.
• Because of Chicago O'Hare International Airport's relatively low elevation of 668 feet, planes can take off or land at Chicago O'Hare 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.
• Chicago O'Hare International Airport (ORD) has 8 runways.
• During this era international flights used Terminal 1.
• 1,057 fatalities have occurred as a result of accidents en route to or from O'Hare.
• Commercial passenger flights started in 1955 and by the following year O'Hare was served by American, BOAC, Braniff, Capital, Delta, Eastern, North Central, Pan Am, TWA and United, along with freight airlines Riddle and Slick.