Nonstop flight route between Griffith, New South Wales, Australia and Hambantota, Sri Lanka:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Griffith Airport (GFF), Griffith, New South Wales, Australia and Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport (HRI), Hambantota, Sri Lanka would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,069 miles (or 8,158 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 Griffith Airport and Mattala Rajapaksa 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 Griffith Airport and Mattala Rajapaksa 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 Griffith Airport (GFF):

• Regional Express withdrew services to and from Melbourne in July 2012.
• The closest airport to Griffith Airport (GFF) is West Wyalong Airport (WWY), which is located 68 miles (109 kilometers) ENE of GFF.
• Griffith Airport (GFF) has 2 runways.
• Because of Griffith Airport's relatively low elevation of 439 feet, planes can take off or land at Griffith 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 furthest airport from Griffith Airport (GFF) is Flores Airport (FLW), which is nearly antipodal to Griffith Airport (meaning Griffith Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Flores Airport), and is located 12,045 miles (19,385 kilometers) away in Flores Island, Azores, Portugal.

Facts about Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport (HRI):

• This project will have two phases, with the first phase expected to be completed by the end of October 2012.
• The terminal building will be of area 12,000m2 with the capacity to handle 1,000,000 passengers per annum.
• On 16 October 2012, a Hawker Beechcraft B200 King Air registered AP-CAB, belonging to the Civil Aviation Authority of Pakistan landed on runway 23 at 12.38 PM local time becoming the first aircraft to land at the new airport as requested by the Rajapaksa regime.
• Because of Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport's relatively low elevation of 157 feet, planes can take off or land at Mattala Rajapaksa 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 closest airport to Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport (HRI) is Weerawila Airport (WRZ), which is located only 8 miles (13 kilometers) ESE of HRI.
• The airport was declared open by the President of Sri Lanka, Mahinda Rajapaksa, on 18 March 2013 and commenced operations with the landing of a SriLankan Airlines special Airbus A340 flight named 'City of Magam Ruhunupura' with the President on board.
• The furthest airport from Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport (HRI) is Seymour Airport (GPS), which is located 11,719 miles (18,860 kilometers) away in Baltra Island, Galápagos Islands, Ecuador.
• In addition to being known as "Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport", another name for HRI is "මත්තල රාජපක්ෂ ජාත්‍යන්තර ගුවන්තොටුපළமத்தல ராஜபக்ஷ பன்னாட்டு விமான நிலையம்".
• Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport (HRI) currently has only 1 runway.
• A new aerodrome designed to meet the ICAO specification for code 4F is to be built.