Nonstop flight route between Zürich, Switzerland and Van Nuys, California, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Zurich Airport (ZRH), Zürich, Switzerland and Van Nuys Airport (VNY), Van Nuys, California, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,911 miles (or 9,513 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 Van Nuys 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 Van Nuys 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 handled 24,865,138 passengers last year.
• The airport has three airside piers, which are known as docks A, B and E.
• When Swissair existed, its head office was at Zurich Airport and in Kloten.
• 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 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.
• Schengen and non-Schengen arriving passengers are handled in separate areas of the central airside building, with non-Schengen passengers passing through immigration controls to reach the ground-side terminal complex.
• The airport was again submitted and approved for renovation in 1970, and Terminal B was completed in 1971.
• A treaty was signed in 2001, regarding the limitation of flights over Germany.
• 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.
• Zurich Airport (ZRH) has 4 runways.

Facts about Van Nuys Airport (VNY):

• Because of Van Nuys Airport's relatively low elevation of 802 feet, planes can take off or land at Van Nuys 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.
• Legend has it that Burbank Airport provided the setting for Humphrey Bogart's famous goodbye in the film Casablanca.
• Van Nuys Airport (VNY) has 2 runways.
• The furthest airport from Van Nuys Airport (VNY) is Pierrefonds Airport (ZSE), which is located 11,472 miles (18,463 kilometers) away in Saint-Pierre, Réunion.
• Van Nuys Airport is the busiest general aviation airport in the world, and the 25th busiest airport in the world.
• The closest airport to Van Nuys Airport (VNY) is Whiteman Airport (WHP), which is located only 6 miles (9 kilometers) NE of VNY.
• In 2005 a film documenting the history of Van Nuys Airport was released under the name One Six Right, named after the more popular runway at the airport.