Nonstop flight route between Grand Rapids, Michigan, United States and Pretoria, South Africa:
Departure Airport:
Arrival Airport:
Distance from GRR to PRY:
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- About this route
- GRR Airport Information
- PRY Airport Information
- Facts about GRR
- Facts about PRY
- Map of Nearest Airports to GRR
- List of Nearest Airports to GRR
- Map of Furthest Airports from GRR
- List of Furthest Airports from GRR
- Map of Nearest Airports to PRY
- List of Nearest Airports to PRY
- Map of Furthest Airports from PRY
- List of Furthest Airports from PRY
About this route:
A direct, nonstop flight between Gerald R. Ford International Airport (GRR), Grand Rapids, Michigan, United States and Wonderboom Airport (PRY), Pretoria, South Africa would travel a Great Circle distance of 8,574 miles (or 13,799 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 Gerald R. Ford International Airport and Wonderboom 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 Gerald R. Ford International Airport and Wonderboom Airport. You'll see that it will travel the same route of the red line on this map!
Departure Airport Information:
IATA / ICAO Codes: | GRR / KGRR |
Airport Name: | Gerald R. Ford International Airport |
Location: | Grand Rapids, Michigan, United States |
GPS Coordinates: | 42°52'50"N by 85°31'22"W |
Area Served: | Grand Rapids, Michigan |
Operator/Owner: | Kent County |
Airport Type: | Public |
Elevation: | 794 feet (242 meters) |
# of Runways: | 3 |
View all routes: | Routes from GRR |
More Information: | GRR Maps & Info |
Arrival Airport Information:
IATA / ICAO Codes: | PRY / FAWB |
Airport Name: | Wonderboom Airport |
Location: | Pretoria, South Africa |
GPS Coordinates: | 25°39'12"S by 28°13'27"E |
Operator/Owner: | City of Pretoria |
Airport Type: | Public |
Elevation: | 4095 feet (1,248 meters) |
# of Runways: | 2 |
View all routes: | Routes from PRY |
More Information: | PRY Maps & Info |
Facts about Gerald R. Ford International Airport (GRR):
- The airport is the largest commercial airport in the West Michigan region and is the second largest airport in Michigan after Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport.
- The first scheduled air service in the United States was between Grand Rapids and Detroit on a Ford-Stout monoplane named Miss Grand Rapids, which started July 26, 1926.
- Because of Gerald R. Ford International Airport's relatively low elevation of 794 feet, planes can take off or land at Gerald R. Ford 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.
- When new baggage screening regulations were introduced by the Transportation Security Administration in 2002, the airport was one of the first in the nation to conduct trials on the new screening machines.
- Gerald R. Ford International Airport (GRR) has 3 runways.
- In January 2012 Southwest Airlines announced it would continue Airtran flights to Grand Rapids and eventually transfer them to Southwest.
- The closest airport to Gerald R. Ford International Airport (GRR) is Park Township Airport (HLM), which is located 33 miles (53 kilometers) W of GRR.
- The airport has two aircraft spotter locations.
- The furthest airport from Gerald R. Ford International Airport (GRR) is Margaret River Airport (MGV), which is located 11,165 miles (17,969 kilometers) away in Margaret River, Western Australia, Australia.
- In 1997 the new 8,500-foot runway 17/35 was added to allow the airport to continue operations during the $32 million reconstruction of runway 8R/26L, completed in 2001.
Facts about Wonderboom Airport (PRY):
- The closest airport to Wonderboom Airport (PRY) is Grand Central Airport (GCJ), which is located 24 miles (38 kilometers) SSW of PRY.
- The furthest airport from Wonderboom Airport (PRY) is Hana Airport (HNM), which is nearly antipodal to Wonderboom Airport (meaning Wonderboom Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Hana Airport), and is located 12,007 miles (19,323 kilometers) away in Hana, Hawaii, United States.
- Wonderboom Airport (PRY) has 2 runways.
- Wonderboom Airport, is located north of Pretoria, South Africa.
- In 2007, plans were mooted by the City of Pretoria for scheduled passenger service from Wonderboom Airport.
- Because of Wonderboom Airport's high elevation of 4,095 feet, planes must typically fly at a faster airspeed in order to takeoff or land at PRY. Combined with a high temperature, this could make PRY a "Hot & High" airport, where the air density is lower than it would otherwise be at sea level.