Nonstop flight route between Springfield/Chicopee, Massachusetts, United States and Qamdo Prefecture, Tibet Autonomous Region, China:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Westover Air Reserve Base (CEF), Springfield/Chicopee, Massachusetts, United States and Qamdo Bamda Airport (BPX), Qamdo Prefecture, Tibet Autonomous Region, China would travel a Great Circle distance of 7,367 miles (or 11,857 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 Westover Air Reserve Base and Qamdo Bamda 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 Westover Air Reserve Base and Qamdo Bamda 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 Westover Air Reserve Base (CEF):

• The Westover complex serves the "Joint Use" mission of military and civilian cooperation.
• A second ADC interceptor squadron, the 324th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron was activated at Westover on 18 October 1955.
• Current military operations at Westover Air Reserve Base are centered around its exceptionally long runways.
• Building at the base was constant throughout 1941.
• The closest airport to Westover Air Reserve Base (CEF) is Westfield-Barnes Regional Airport (BAF), which is located only 10 miles (15 kilometers) WSW of CEF.
• The furthest airport from Westover Air Reserve Base (CEF) is Margaret River Airport (MGV), which is located 11,731 miles (18,880 kilometers) away in Margaret River, Western Australia, Australia.
• Westover was also the launching point of the heroic Berlin Airlift for 327 days during the Soviet blockade.
• On 1 February 1946 Westover became an Air Transport Command base which meant that it was the terminus for air routes around the world.
• In addition to being known as "Westover Air Reserve Base", another name for CEF is "Westover ARB".

Facts about Qamdo Bamda Airport (BPX):

• In addition to being known as "Qamdo Bamda Airport", other names for BPX include "昌都邦达机场" and "Chāngdū Bāngdá Jīchǎng".
• The closest airport to Qamdo Bamda Airport (BPX) is Yushu Batang Airport (YUS), which is located 158 miles (254 kilometers) N of BPX.
• The airport is 2.5 hours by mountain road from the county seat of Qamdo.
• The furthest airport from Qamdo Bamda Airport (BPX) is Viña del Mar Airport (KNA), which is located 11,747 miles (18,904 kilometers) away in Viña del Mar, Chile.
• Qamdo Bamda Airport (BPX) currently has only 1 runway.
• At an elevation of 4,334 m above sea level, Qamdo Airport was formerly the highest airport in the world.
• Because of Qamdo Bamda Airport's high elevation of 14,436 feet, planes must typically fly at a faster airspeed in order to takeoff or land at BPX. Combined with a high temperature, this could make BPX a "Hot & High" airport, where the air density is lower than it would otherwise be at sea level.