Nonstop flight route between Big Spring, Texas, United States and Axum, Ethiopia:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Webb Air Force Base Big Spring Army Airfield (BGS), Big Spring, Texas, United States and Axum Emperor Yohannes IV Airport (AXU), Axum, Ethiopia would travel a Great Circle distance of 8,296 miles (or 13,351 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 Webb Air Force Base Big Spring Army Airfield and Axum Emperor Yohannes IV 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 Webb Air Force Base Big Spring Army Airfield and Axum Emperor Yohannes IV 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 Webb Air Force Base Big Spring Army Airfield (BGS):

• By the mid-1970s, the end of the Vietnam War, the associated financial costs of that conflict and related cuts in USAF force structure and future defense budgets meant a marked decrease in the need for Air Force pilots.
• The furthest airport from Webb Air Force Base Big Spring Army Airfield (BGS) is Sir Gaëtan Duval Airport (RRG), which is located 11,166 miles (17,969 kilometers) away in Rodrigues Island, Mauritius.
• In 1956, the Air Defense Command 331st Fighter-Interceptor Squadron was transferred to Webb from Stewart Air Force Base in New York to defend the southern United States border on air intercept missions as part of the Central Air Defense Force.
• The closest airport to Webb Air Force Base Big Spring Army Airfield (BGS) is Midland Airpark (MDD), which is located 36 miles (58 kilometers) WSW of BGS.
• The airfield was activated as Big Spring Air Force Base on 1 October 1951 by the United States Air Force Air Training Command and established the 3560th Pilot Training Wing.
• At that time, nearly 6,000 students had graduated and the field's training aircraft had flown approximately 400,000 hours and more than 60 million miles.
• Perhaps the most dominant feature on the ATC landscape in 1974 was the serious fuel shortage the command had to contend with for much of the year.
• 78th Flying Training Wing

Facts about Axum Emperor Yohannes IV Airport (AXU):

• On 2 May 1987, Douglas C-47A ET-AGT of Ethiopian Airlines was destroyed on the ground in an attack on the airport by Ethiopian Air Force MiG-23s.
• In addition to being known as "Axum Emperor Yohannes IV Airport", another name for AXU is "የአክሱም ዮሃነስ አራት የአየር ማረፊያ".
• Axum Emperor Yohannes IV Airport (AXU) currently has only 1 runway.
• The closest airport to Axum Emperor Yohannes IV Airport (AXU) is Alula Aba Nega Airport (MQX), which is located 69 miles (111 kilometers) SE of AXU.
• The furthest airport from Axum Emperor Yohannes IV Airport (AXU) is Fangatau Airport (FGU), which is nearly antipodal to Axum Emperor Yohannes IV Airport (meaning Axum Emperor Yohannes IV Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Fangatau Airport), and is located 12,318 miles (19,824 kilometers) away in Fangatau, French Polynesia.
• Because of Axum Emperor Yohannes IV Airport's high elevation of 6,916 feet, planes must typically fly at a faster airspeed in order to takeoff or land at AXU. Combined with a high temperature, this could make AXU a "Hot & High" airport, where the air density is lower than it would otherwise be at sea level.
• The airport is named after Yohannes IV, the Emperor of Ethiopia from 1872 to 1889.