Nonstop flight route between Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom and Shemya, Alaska, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Belfast International Airport (BFS), Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom and Eareckson Air Station (SYA), Shemya, Alaska, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,018 miles (or 8,076 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 Belfast International Airport and Eareckson Air Station, 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 Belfast International Airport and Eareckson Air Station. 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 Belfast International Airport (BFS):

• On 8 April 2013, the leisure airline Jet2.com announced that all flights would be suspended from the airport until further notice.
• During the Second World War, Aldergrove remained an RAF base particularly for the Coastal Command.
• In addition to being known as "Belfast International Airport", another name for BFS is "Belfast/Aldergrove Airport".
• In 1971 Northern Ireland Airports Limited was formed to operate and develop the airport and its facilities.
• Because of Belfast International Airport's relatively low elevation of 268 feet, planes can take off or land at Belfast 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 is owned by ADC & HAS, the same company which owns Stockholm Skavsta, Orlando Sanford International Airport, Daniel Oduber Quirós International Airport, Mariscal Sucre International Airport & Juan Santamaría International Airport.
• Belfast International Airport (BFS) has 2 runways.
• The furthest airport from Belfast International Airport (BFS) is Ryan's Creek Aerodrome (SZS), which is located 11,847 miles (19,065 kilometers) away in Stewart Island, New Zealand.
• Belfast International Airport handled 4,023,336 passengers last year.
• Between 2006 - 2008, both easyJet and Aer Lingus established a number of new routes for Belfast including Berlin, Budapest, Prague, Rome, Munich and Venice, all of which were eventually scrapped.
• The closest airport to Belfast International Airport (BFS) is George Best Belfast City Airport (BHD), which is located only 14 miles (23 kilometers) E of BFS.
• The airport lies within the parish of Killead, between the small villages of Killead and Aldergrove.

Facts about Eareckson Air Station (SYA):

• By the end of 1944, several hundred American airmen had been interned by the Russians after their crippled aircraft landed on Petropavlovsk on the Kamchatka Peninsula.
• The closest airport to Eareckson Air Station (SYA) is Casco Cove Coast Guard Station (ATU), which is located 40 miles (65 kilometers) WNW of SYA.
• The station was also used by SAC Cobra Ball and other related projects which monitored missile-associated signals and tracks missiles during boost and re-entry phases to provide reconnaissance for treaty verification and theater ballistic missile proliferation.
• Eareckson Air Station (SYA) currently has only 1 runway.
• The Korean War brought extensive use by the Military Air Transport Service for the logistical support of Korea and Japan.
• On 6 April 1993, Shemya Air Force Base was renamed Eareckson Air Station.
• Shemya also continued to support the Great Circle Route for MATS and later Military Airlift Command transports between Japan and Elmendorf AFB.
• The aerial photos taken on the raid showed the Japanese were building up forces in the area, transferring aircraft presumably from air bases on Hokkaido.
• The furthest airport from Eareckson Air Station (SYA) is Cape Town International Airport (CPT), which is located 10,668 miles (17,168 kilometers) away in Cape Town, South Africa.
• In addition to being known as "Eareckson Air Station", other names for SYA include "Shemya Air Force Base", "Shemya Army Airfield" and "  ".
• Because of Eareckson Air Station's relatively low elevation of 97 feet, planes can take off or land at Eareckson Air Station 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.