Nonstop flight route between Georgetown, Ascension Island, Saint Helena and Blackpool, England, United Kingdom:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between RAF Ascension (ASI), Georgetown, Ascension Island, Saint Helena and Blackpool International Airport (BLK), Blackpool, England, United Kingdom would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,317 miles (or 6,948 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 RAF Ascension and Blackpool 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 RAF Ascension and Blackpool 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 RAF Ascension (ASI):

• Ascension serves as a diversion airport for ETOPS aircraft crossing the Atlantic.
• 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.
• In 1939 Ascension became important as a HF/DF radio station covering trade routes.
• The closest airport to RAF Ascension (ASI) is Sasstown Airport (SAZ), which is located 965 miles (1,553 kilometers) NNE of ASI.
• In addition to being known as "RAF Ascension", another name for ASI is "Wideawake Airbase/Field".

Facts about Blackpool International Airport (BLK):

• RAF Coastal Command also established an operational base on site, and expanded RAF Warton to act as a satellite airfield.
• The furthest airport from Blackpool International Airport (BLK) is Ryan's Creek Aerodrome (SZS), which is located 11,823 miles (19,027 kilometers) away in Stewart Island, New Zealand.
• In addition to being known as "Blackpool International Airport", another name for BLK is "Squires Gate Airport".
• Until January 2006 an Avro Vulcan bomber was on static external display close to the entrance to the airport.
• The closest airport to Blackpool International Airport (BLK) is Warton Aerodrome (WRT), which is located only 6 miles (10 kilometers) ESE of BLK.
• Because of Blackpool International Airport's relatively low elevation of 34 feet, planes can take off or land at Blackpool 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 airport site's first aviation use was in October 1909, when the UK's first official public Flying Meeting was held on a specially laid out site at Squires Gate, followed by another in 1910.
• The factory was reopened by Hawker Aircraft in the mid-1950s to augment the production of Hawker Hunter jet fighters, under contract SP/6ACFT/9817/CB 7a.
• In the summer of 2008 Ryanair announced a large cut in capacity at a number of airports, including Stansted, from October 2008 to March 2009, although Blackpool was not affected by these cuts.
• Blackpool International Airport (BLK) has 2 runways.
• In 2007, Jet2 cancelled its Prague and Amsterdam services blaming insufficient passenger numbers as the reason to suspend the route.
• Blackpool International Airport handled 262,630 passengers last year.
• The RAF also selected Blackpool as one of its training wings due to the availability of accommodation.