Nonstop flight route between Birmingham, Alabama, United States and Kandahar, Afghanistan:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport (BHM), Birmingham, Alabama, United States and Kabul International Airport (KDH), Kandahar, Afghanistan would travel a Great Circle distance of 7,599 miles (or 12,230 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 Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport and Kabul 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 Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport and Kabul 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 Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport (BHM):

• 1954 and 1969 airport diagrams
• Continued growth in passenger traffic by 1962 resulted in the construction of a second passenger terminal and a new air traffic control tower, built west of the original 1931 terminal.
• Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport (BHM) has 2 runways.
• The closest airport to Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport (BHM) is St. Clair County Airport (PLR), which is located 29 miles (47 kilometers) E of BHM.
• Because of Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport's relatively low elevation of 650 feet, planes can take off or land at Birmingham-Shuttlesworth 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 furthest airport from Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport (BHM) is Margaret River Airport (MGV), which is located 11,183 miles (17,998 kilometers) away in Margaret River, Western Australia, Australia.
• The 1974 terminal was built in the International style of architecture popular for American commercial and institutional buildings from the 1950s through the late 1970s.
• A ribbon cutting ceremony for the new concourses A and B took place on February 26, 2013.
• Birmingham–Shuttlesworth International Airport covers 2,000 acres at an elevation of 650 feet above mean sea level.

Facts about Kabul International Airport (KDH):

• Coalition presence increases
• The Afghan government has been slow in rebuilding the facility, the vast majority of it has been reclaimed from years of neglect and damage by Soviet and Taliban soldiers.
• Kabul International Airport (KDH) currently has only 1 runway.
• With the closure of Camp Julien in Kabul in November 2005, most of the Canadian Forces personnel in Afghanistan were transferred to Kandahar province.
• The closest airport to Kabul International Airport (KDH) is Tarin Kowt Airport (TII), which is located 76 miles (123 kilometers) N of KDH.
• The airfield itself was built between 1956 and 1962 by American consultants, for a cost of USD 15 million.
• In addition to being known as "Kabul International Airport", other names for KDH include "Kandahar International Airport (Kandahar)" and "میدان هوایی بین المللی کندهار".
• During Operation Enduring Freedom in late 2001, Kandahar Airport was one of the first coalition bases established in Afghanistan.
• The furthest airport from Kabul International Airport (KDH) is Mataveri International Airport (IPC), which is nearly antipodal to Kabul International Airport (meaning Kabul International Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Mataveri International Airport), and is located 12,023 miles (19,349 kilometers) away in Easter Island, Chile.