Nonstop flight route between Columbus, Mississippi, United States and Lhasa, Tibet Autonomous Region, China:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Columbus Air Force Base (CBM), Columbus, Mississippi, United States and Lhasa Gonggar Airport (LXA), Lhasa, Tibet Autonomous Region, China would travel a Great Circle distance of 8,088 miles (or 13,016 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 Columbus Air Force Base and Lhasa Gonggar 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 Columbus Air Force Base and Lhasa Gonggar 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 Columbus Air Force Base (CBM):

• In addition to being known as "Columbus Air Force Base", another name for CBM is "Columbus AFB".
• The first KC-135 Stratotanker, piloted by the wing commander, landed on the new runway on 7 January 1959.
• The Columbus flying school received its first aircraft, nine Beech AT-10s and twenty-one AT-8s in early 1942.
• The closest airport to Columbus Air Force Base (CBM) is Columbus-Lowndes County Airport (UBS), which is located only 13 miles (21 kilometers) SSE of CBM.
• The furthest airport from Columbus Air Force Base (CBM) is Margaret River Airport (MGV), which is located 11,088 miles (17,844 kilometers) away in Margaret River, Western Australia, Australia.
• About half the pilots in the Air Force today went through basic and primary flight training at Columbus AFB.
• In 1992, ATC was inactivated and the 14 FTW came under the newly created Air Education and Training Command and AETC's 19th Air Force.

Facts about Lhasa Gonggar Airport (LXA):

• Building an airport in Tibet, which is termed in flying parlance as going over a "hump" in the Tibetan Plateau, has gone through a process of trial and error through many hazardous air routes and several fatal accidents during World War II.
• Lhasa Gonggar Airport (LXA) has 2 runways.
• The main airlines flying to and from Lhasa Gonggar Airport are the following.
• In addition to being known as "Lhasa Gonggar Airport", other names for LXA include "拉萨贡嘎机场ལྷ་ས་གོང་དཀར་རྫོང་" and "Lāsà Gònggá Jīchǎnglha sa gong kar dzong".
• Given the frequency of strong air currents picking up in the afternoon, most flights into the airport are scheduled in the morning.
• In 1965 the Gonggar Airport was constructed.
• Gonggar Airport is in Gyazuling township of the Gonggar County.
• A new highway between Lhasa and the Gonggar Airport has been built by the Transportation Department of Tibet at a cost of RMB 1.5 billion yuan.
• The furthest airport from Lhasa Gonggar Airport (LXA) is Carriel Sur International Airport (CCP), which is located 11,377 miles (18,309 kilometers) away in Concepción, Bío Bío Region, Chile.
• The closest airport to Lhasa Gonggar Airport (LXA) is Shigatse Peace Airport (RKZ), which is located 97 miles (156 kilometers) W of LXA.
• Because of Lhasa Gonggar Airport's high elevation of 11,713 feet, planes must typically fly at a faster airspeed in order to takeoff or land at LXA. Combined with a high temperature, this could make LXA a "Hot & High" airport, where the air density is lower than it would otherwise be at sea level.