Nonstop flight route between Alconbury, England, United Kingdom and Shenzhen, Guangdong, China:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between RAF AlconburyUSAAF Station 102 (AYH), Alconbury, England, United Kingdom and Shenzhen Bao'an International Airport (SZX), Shenzhen, Guangdong, China would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,920 miles (or 9,527 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 Shenzhen Bao'an 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 AlconburyUSAAF Station 102 and Shenzhen Bao'an 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 AlconburyUSAAF Station 102 (AYH):

• Royal Air Force Alconbury or RAF Alconbury is an active Royal Air Force station in the United Kingdom, located in Huntingdon, England.
• Also in 1942, to bring the station up to Class A airfield standards, the runways were extended to 2,000 yards, and 1,400 yards, with 26 additional hardstands along with the taxiways altered.
• Satellite bases were considered one answer to this threat – a landing ground within reasonable road travel distance of the parent airfield to which aircraft could be diverted if the home station was bombed or likely to be attacked.
• The closest airport to RAF AlconburyUSAAF Station 102 (AYH) is Cambridge International Airport (CBG), which is located 20 miles (32 kilometers) ESE of AYH.
• RAF Alconbury and RAF Molesworth are the last Second World War-era Eighth Air Force bases in Britain that are still actively in use and controlled by the United States Air Force.
• Squadrons 15 and 40 converted from Battles to Bristol Blenheim bombers, but did not take part in bombing raids with the new type until the German Blitzkrieg was unleashed in May 1940.
• The construction attracted the attention of the Luftwaffe as the flying field of RAF Alconbury was attacked by German bombers on 16 September 1940, although no serious damage was done.
• 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 Shenzhen Bao'an International Airport (SZX):

• The closest airport to Shenzhen Bao'an International Airport (SZX) is Hong Kong International Airport (HKG), which is located 24 miles (38 kilometers) SSE of SZX.
• The new terminal is three times the size of terminals A and B and represents a huge upgrade of the airport's facilities and capacity.
• Shenzhen Bao'an International Airport (SZX) has 2 runways.
• The furthest airport from Shenzhen Bao'an International Airport (SZX) is Bermejo Airport (BJO), which is nearly antipodal to Shenzhen Bao'an International Airport (meaning Shenzhen Bao'an International Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Bermejo Airport), and is located 12,317 miles (19,822 kilometers) away in Bermejo, Bolivia.
• Because of Shenzhen Bao'an International Airport's relatively low elevation of 13 feet, planes can take off or land at Shenzhen Bao'an 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.
• Shenzhen Airlines is headquartered on the grounds of the airport.Jade Cargo International was headquartered on the sixth floor of the Shenzhen Airlines Flight Operations Building on grounds of Shenzhen Bao'an International Airport.Shenzhen Donghai Airlines has its head office in the Shenzhen Airlines facility on the airport property.
• C area is for flights on Sichuan, Xiamen, Hainan, Juneyao, OK, Chengdu, Spring, Hebei and Chongqing airlines.
• New terminal at Shenzhen International Airport viewed from existing terminals
• Shenzhen airport handled 26,713,610 passengers in 2010, according to Civil Aviation Administration of China, making it the fifth busiest in China.
• Shenzhen Bao'an International Airport handled 32,268,400 passengers last year.
• In addition to being known as "Shenzhen Bao'an International Airport", other names for SZX include "深圳宝安国际机场" and "Shēnzhèn Bǎo'ān Guójì Jīchǎng".