Nonstop flight route between Delhi, India and Rapid City, South Dakota, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Indira Gandhi International Airport (DEL), Delhi, India and Ellsworth Air Force Base (RCA), Rapid City, South Dakota, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 7,413 miles (or 11,929 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 Indira Gandhi International Airport and Ellsworth 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 Indira Gandhi International Airport and Ellsworth 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 Indira Gandhi International Airport (DEL):

• Opened in 2010, Terminal 3, a state-of-the-art and integrated future terminal, is the 24th largest building in the world and 8th largest passenger terminal.
• Indira Gandhi International Airport (DEL) has 3 runways.
• On 21 August 2008, the airport inaugurated its 3rd runway 11/29 costing 10 billion and 4,430 m long.
• Safdarjung Airport was built in 1930 and was the main airport for Delhi until 1962.
• Terminal 1 facilities are currently used by GoAir, IndiGo, SpiceJet and are split into two areas, Terminal 1D for departures and Terminal 1C for arrivals.
• Designed by HOK working in consultation with Mott MacDonald, the new Terminal 3 is a two-tier building spread over an area of 20 acres, with the bottom floor being the arrivals area, and the top being a departures area.
• Upon the annual Muslim pilgrimage of Hajj specified flights move to this separate terminal to prevent disruption of other passengers who are travelling to other areas of the globe.
• Because of Indira Gandhi International Airport's relatively low elevation of 777 feet, planes can take off or land at Indira Gandhi 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 Indira Gandhi International Airport (DEL) is Mataveri International Airport (IPC), which is nearly antipodal to Indira Gandhi International Airport (meaning Indira Gandhi International Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Mataveri International Airport), and is located 12,026 miles (19,354 kilometers) away in Easter Island, Chile.
• The closest airport to Indira Gandhi International Airport (DEL) is Agra Airport (AGR), which is located 110 miles (178 kilometers) SSE of DEL.

Facts about Ellsworth Air Force Base (RCA):

• Ellsworth AFB was established in 1941 as Rapid City Army Air Base.
• The host unit at Ellsworth is the 28th Bomb Wing assigned to the Air Combat Command's Twelfth Air Force.
• In addition to being known as "Ellsworth Air Force Base", another name for RCA is "Ellsworth AFB".
• An AN/MPS-14 height-finder radar was added in 1956.
• The closest airport to Ellsworth Air Force Base (RCA) is Rapid City Regional Airport (RAP), which is located only 7 miles (11 kilometers) S of RCA.
• The 740th AC&W Squadron began operations in 1955 with AN/MPS-7 search radar, and initially the station functioned as a Ground-Control Intercept and warning station.
• The furthest airport from Ellsworth Air Force Base (RCA) is Sir Gaëtan Duval Airport (RRG), which is located 10,579 miles (17,026 kilometers) away in Rodrigues Island, Mauritius.
• On 1 June 1992, as part of the first major reorganization since the creation of USAF, the Air Force inactivated Strategic Air Command and assigned Ellsworth's organizations ) to the newly activated Air Combat Command.
• On 15 July 1945, the 225th AAFBU was inactivated and Rapid City AAB was placed on standby status as the Army Air Forces began to demobilize.
• After the Army closed their facilities, the military housing at the Nike Integrated Fire Control sites was transferred to control of Ellsworth, and was used as Air Force military family housing until about 1990.