Nonstop flight route between Birmingham, England, United Kingdom and Shafter, California, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Birmingham Airport (BHX), Birmingham, England, United Kingdom and Shafter Airport (MIT), Shafter, California, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,292 miles (or 8,517 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 Airport and Shafter 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 Airport and Shafter 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 Airport (BHX):

• Birmingham handled a record 9.6 million passengers in 2008, and 9.1 million passengers used the airport in 2013, making Birmingham the seventh busiest UK airport.
• Birmingham Airport (BHX) currently has only 1 runway.
• Birmingham Airport handled 9,120,201 passengers last year.
• Because of Birmingham Airport's relatively low elevation of 341 feet, planes can take off or land at Birmingham 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 Airport (BHX) is Dunedin International Airport (DUD), which is located 11,858 miles (19,084 kilometers) away in Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand.
• It is primarily served by the A45 main road, and is near Junction 6 of the M42 motorway.
• Plans for the extension of the airport runway and the construction of the new air traffic control tower were submitted to Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council in January 2008 and approved in March 2009.
• It's also been estimated that if these plans were to go ahead, the airport could handle around 70,000,000 passengers annually, and around 500,000 aircraft movements.
• Taxiways will be further improved to allow for terminal expansion and to improve runway occupancy rates.
• The closest airport to Birmingham Airport (BHX) is Coventry Airport (CVT), which is located only 13 miles (20 kilometers) ESE of BHX.

Facts about Shafter Airport (MIT):

• With the end of the war in 1945, airfield was determined to be excess by the military and turned over to the local government for civil use in March 1948.
• In addition to being known as "Shafter Airport", another name for MIT is "Minter Field".
• Lerdo Field, as the airport was initially known during World War II was first opened in June 1941 when the United States Army Air Corps dispatched a small garrison of airmen to open an airfield at Shafter.
• Shafter Airport (MIT) has 2 runways.
• The closest airport to Shafter Airport (MIT) is Meadows Field (BFL), which is located only 9 miles (15 kilometers) ESE of MIT.
• Because of Shafter Airport's relatively low elevation of 424 feet, planes can take off or land at Shafter 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 Shafter Airport (MIT) is Pierrefonds Airport (ZSE), which is located 11,404 miles (18,353 kilometers) away in Saint-Pierre, Réunion.