Nonstop flight route between Alconbury, England, United Kingdom and Yiwu, Zhejiang, China:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between RAF AlconburyUSAAF Station 102 (AYH), Alconbury, England, United Kingdom and Yiwu Airport (YIW), Yiwu, Zhejiang, China would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,743 miles (or 9,242 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 Yiwu 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 Yiwu 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 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 423 ABG command section and orderly room are located at Alconbury as are many of the support units and recreational facilities for the area.
• A total of 67 bombers had been lost in RAF Bomber Command operations flown from Alconbury, eight were Blenheims and 59 Wellingtons.
• 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.
• 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 Yiwu Airport (YIW):

• In addition to being known as "Yiwu Airport", other names for YIW include "义乌机场" and "Yìwū Jīchǎng".
• Yiwu Airport handled 761,938 passengers last year.
• Yiwu Airport (YIW) currently has only 1 runway.
• The closest airport to Yiwu Airport (YIW) is Hangzhou Xiaoshan International Airport (HGH), which is located 66 miles (106 kilometers) NNE of YIW.
• The furthest airport from Yiwu Airport (YIW) is Reconquista Airport (RCQ), which is nearly antipodal to Yiwu Airport (meaning Yiwu Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Reconquista Airport), and is located 12,417 miles (19,983 kilometers) away in Reconquista, Santa Fe, Argentina.
• On 6 January 2012, construction commenced for a new international terminal.
• Yiwu Airport has one runway that is 2,500 meters long and 45 meters wide, and an 18,000 square-meter terminal building.