Nonstop flight route between Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom and Tampa, Florida, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between George Best Belfast City Airport (BHD), Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom and MacDill Air Force Base (MCF), Tampa, Florida, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,150 miles (or 6,678 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 George Best Belfast City Airport and MacDill Air Force Base, 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 George Best Belfast City Airport and MacDill Air Force Base. 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 George Best Belfast City Airport (BHD):

• Flexibus route 600 is the Belfast City Airlink service, from the terminal to the Belfast Europa Buscentre adjacent to the Europa Hotel and Belfast Great Victoria Street railway station.
• The closest airport to George Best Belfast City Airport (BHD) is Belfast International Airport (BFS), which is located only 14 miles (23 kilometers) WNW of BHD.
• George Best Belfast City Airport (BHD) currently has only 1 runway.
• George Best Belfast City Airport handled 2,541,759 passengers last year.
• The furthest airport from George Best Belfast City Airport (BHD) is Ryan's Creek Aerodrome (SZS), which is located 11,843 miles (19,059 kilometers) away in Stewart Island, New Zealand.
• Following major capital investment Bombardier sold the airport in 2003 for £35 million to the Spanish company Ferrovial, the owner of BAA Airports.
• In addition to being known as "George Best Belfast City Airport", another name for BHD is "Belfast City Airport".
• As the airport is adjacent to residential areas, the issue of noise pollution is a major one and a source of public debate.
• Because of George Best Belfast City Airport's relatively low elevation of 15 feet, planes can take off or land at George Best Belfast City 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.

Facts about MacDill Air Force Base (MCF):

• In addition to being known as "MacDill Air Force Base", another name for MCF is "MacDill AFB".
• MacDill AFB was established in 1939 as Southeast Air Base, Tampa.
• In addition to the antisubmarine mission, another prewar mission of MacDill was "Project X" the ferrying of combat aircraft eastward to the Philippines via ferrying routes set up by Ferrying Command over South Atlantic Ocean and Central Africa.
• The furthest airport from MacDill Air Force Base (MCF) is Shark Bay Airport (MJK), which is located 11,436 miles (18,405 kilometers) away in Monkey Mia, Western Australia, Australia.
• The closest airport to MacDill Air Force Base (MCF) is Peter O. Knight Airport (TPF), which is located only 6 miles (10 kilometers) NE of MCF.
• All of these airfields came under the jurisdiction of Third Air Force.
• The 29th Bombardment Group was moved to MacDill from Langley Field, Virginia on 21 May 1940.
• The 6 AMW also has a collocated "Associate" wing at MacDill, the 927th Air Refueling Wing of the Air Force Reserve Command.
• Several bases in Florida, including MacDill, served as detention centers for German prisoners-of-war in the latter part of 1944 and 1945.