Nonstop flight route between Alconbury, England, United Kingdom and Lanzhou, Gansu, China:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between RAF AlconburyUSAAF Station 102 (AYH), Alconbury, England, United Kingdom and Lanzhou Zhongchuan Airport (LHW), Lanzhou, Gansu, China would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,787 miles (or 7,704 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 AlconburyUSAAF Station 102 and Lanzhou Zhongchuan 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 AlconburyUSAAF Station 102 and Lanzhou Zhongchuan 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 AlconburyUSAAF Station 102 (AYH):

• The host unit at RAF Alconbury is the 423rd Air Base Group which supplies host unit services for Alconbury as well as RAF Molesworth.
• The technical site on the north-west side was expanded where a single T2 hangar was also erected.
• In the spring of 1938, the Air Ministry acquired about 150 acres of open meadowland at Alconbury Hill, Huntingdonshire, expressly for use as a satellite airfield.
• The closest airport to RAF AlconburyUSAAF Station 102 (AYH) is Cambridge International Airport (CBG), which is located 20 miles (32 kilometers) ESE of AYH.
• A total of 67 bombers had been lost in RAF Bomber Command operations flown from Alconbury, eight were Blenheims and 59 Wellingtons.
• In late 1940/41, an expansion of RAF Alconbury commenced to upgrade its facilities from a satellite airfield to a fully operational one.
• The furthest airport from RAF AlconburyUSAAF Station 102 (AYH) is Chatham Islands (CHT), which is located 11,821 miles (19,024 kilometers) away in Waitangi, Chatham Islands, New Zealand.

Facts about Lanzhou Zhongchuan Airport (LHW):

• The construction of a railway line between the airport and the city started on 2012-12-21.
• The closest airport to Lanzhou Zhongchuan Airport (LHW) is Lanzhou Zhongchuan Airport (ZGC), which is located only 0 mile (0 kilometer) N of LHW.
• In addition to being known as "Lanzhou Zhongchuan Airport", other names for LHW include "兰州中川机场", "Lánzhōu Zhōngchuān Jīchǎng" and "ZGC".
• Because of Lanzhou Zhongchuan Airport's high elevation of 6,388 feet, planes must typically fly at a faster airspeed in order to takeoff or land at LHW. Combined with a high temperature, this could make LHW a "Hot & High" airport, where the air density is lower than it would otherwise be at sea level.
• The furthest airport from Lanzhou Zhongchuan Airport (LHW) is Carriel Sur International Airport (CCP), which is nearly antipodal to Lanzhou Zhongchuan Airport (meaning Lanzhou Zhongchuan Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Carriel Sur International Airport), and is located 12,252 miles (19,718 kilometers) away in Concepción, Bío Bío Region, Chile.
• Taxi service is relatively expensive due to the long distance to the airport, about 150RMB.
• Lanzhou Zhongchuan Airport (LHW) currently has only 1 runway.