Nonstop flight route between Valaparaiso (near Fort Walton Beach), Florida, United States and Kandahar, Afghanistan:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Northwest Florida Regional Airport (VPS), Valaparaiso (near Fort Walton Beach), Florida, United States and Kabul International Airport (KDH), Kandahar, Afghanistan would travel a Great Circle distance of 7,787 miles (or 12,531 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 Northwest Florida Regional Airport and Kabul 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 Northwest Florida Regional Airport and Kabul 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 Northwest Florida Regional Airport (VPS):

• The furthest airport from Northwest Florida Regional Airport (VPS) is Shark Bay Airport (MJK), which is located 11,174 miles (17,983 kilometers) away in Monkey Mia, Western Australia, Australia.
• In addition to being known as "Northwest Florida Regional Airport", another name for VPS is "Eglin Air Force Base".
• Because of Northwest Florida Regional Airport's relatively low elevation of 87 feet, planes can take off or land at Northwest Florida Regional 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 Northwest Florida Regional Airport (VPS) is Destin–Fort Walton Beach Airport (DSI), which is located only 7 miles (11 kilometers) SSE of VPS.
• Delta Air Lines is the only airline currently flying mainline jets into the airport with Airbus A319, Boeing 717 and McDonnell Douglas MD-88 jetliners.Delta Connection flies Canadair CRJ-200s and Canadair CRJ-700s from VPS as well.
• Northwest Florida Regional Airport (VPS) has 2 runways.

Facts about Kabul International Airport (KDH):

• The airport was built in the 1960s by the United States.
• In addition to being known as "Kabul International Airport", other names for KDH include "Kandahar International Airport (Kandahar)" and "میدان هوایی بین المللی کندهار".
• A perimeter was quickly secured around the terminal building and airstrip, and initially all troops worked and lived in and around the main terminal building itself.
• Kabul International Airport (KDH) currently has only 1 runway.
• The furthest airport from Kabul International Airport (KDH) is Mataveri International Airport (IPC), which is nearly antipodal to Kabul International Airport (meaning Kabul International Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Mataveri International Airport), and is located 12,023 miles (19,349 kilometers) away in Easter Island, Chile.
• Reconstruction and Canadian deployments
• The deployments in February 2006 brought Task Force Afghanistan in Kandahar to about 2,250 personnel.
• The closest airport to Kabul International Airport (KDH) is Tarin Kowt Airport (TII), which is located 76 miles (123 kilometers) N of KDH.
• As part of Operation Enduring Freedom, the Royal Air Force and Royal Navy also had based a squadron of Harrier GR7A aircraft at Kandahar Airfield to provide close air support to coalition ground forces replacing USMC AV-8B's.
• During the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, the airfield was used intensively by the Soviet Air Forces, both as logistical facility for flying in troops and supplies and as a base for launching airstrikes against local Mujahideen groups.