Nonstop flight route between Lorient, France and Georgetown, Ascension Island, Saint Helena:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Lorient South Brittany Airport (LRT), Lorient, France and RAF Ascension (ASI), Georgetown, Ascension Island, Saint Helena would travel a Great Circle distance of 3,908 miles (or 6,290 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 Lorient South Brittany Airport and RAF Ascension, 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 Lorient South Brittany Airport and RAF Ascension. 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 Lorient South Brittany Airport (LRT):

• In addition to being known as "Lorient South Brittany Airport", another name for LRT is "Aéroport de Lorient Bretagne Sud".
• Lorient South Brittany Airport (LRT) has 2 runways.
• Because of Lorient South Brittany Airport's relatively low elevation of 160 feet, planes can take off or land at Lorient South Brittany 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.
• These units also form the airwing which is assigned to the aircraft carrier "Charles de Gaulle".
• The airport is comparatively large, 3 km by 3 km, which is due to its being built during the Second World War to support German submarine operations from the nearby base in Lorient.
• The furthest airport from Lorient South Brittany Airport (LRT) is Oamaru Airport (OAM), which is nearly antipodal to Lorient South Brittany Airport (meaning Lorient South Brittany Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Oamaru Airport), and is located 12,112 miles (19,493 kilometers) away in Oamaru, North Otago, New Zealand.
• The closest airport to Lorient South Brittany Airport (LRT) is Meucon Airport (VNE), which is located 33 miles (54 kilometers) E of LRT.

Facts about RAF Ascension (ASI):

• RAF Ascension, more commonly known as RAF Ascension Island, and sometimes known as Wideawake Airfield or Ascension Island Base, is a British Royal Air Force station on Ascension Island in the Atlantic Ocean, near the Equator.
• In addition to being known as "RAF Ascension", another name for ASI is "Wideawake Airbase/Field".
• Ascension Island Auxiliary Field was being built by 181 men from Saint Helena by 1957
• RAF Ascension Island is also the refuelling point for the Ministry of Defence's South Atlantic Air Bridge flights to RAF Mount Pleasant, on the Falkland Islands, from RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire, in the UK.
• The NASA Tracking Station at Devil's Ashpit and the Cable & Wireless Earth Station at Donkey Plain were built in the "mid-sixties" for space operations and communications, including the latter's use for transmitting "microwave borne data via the Early Bird Satellite back to the NASA facility at Andover, Maine.
• The furthest airport from RAF Ascension (ASI) is Ujae Airport (UJE), which is nearly antipodal to RAF Ascension (meaning RAF Ascension is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Ujae Airport), and is located 12,370 miles (19,907 kilometers) away in Ujae Atoll, Marshall Islands.
• The closest airport to RAF Ascension (ASI) is Sasstown Airport (SAZ), which is located 965 miles (1,553 kilometers) NNE of ASI.
• The RAF presence on Ascension is backed up by United States Air Force personnel, who contribute a similar number of service personnel to ensure the effective running of the station, under the command of Captain Eduard Rodriguez, who is responsible to the RAF Station Commander.