Nonstop flight route between Dover, Delaware, United States and Cairns, Queensland, Australia:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Dover Air Force Base (DOV), Dover, Delaware, United States and Cairns Airport (CNS), Cairns, Queensland, Australia would travel a Great Circle distance of 9,526 miles (or 15,331 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 Dover Air Force Base and Cairns 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 Dover Air Force Base and Cairns 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 Dover Air Force Base (DOV):

• By 2008, the air traffic tower serving the airfield, built in 1955, was the oldest such tower in use in the United States Air Force.
• Construction of Municipal Airport, Dover Airdrome began in March 1941 and the facility was opened on December 17, 1941.
• After the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster, the remains of the seven astronauts were transferred to Dover AFB.
• Dover AFB is also the home for the largest military mortuary in the Department of Defense, and has been used for processing military personnel killed in both war and peacetime.
• Some of the more memorable flights during the post-war period included the airdrop and test firing of a Minuteman I intercontinental ballistic missile and the delivery of a 40-ton superconducting magnet to Moscow during the Cold War, for which the crew received the Mackay Trophy.
• The furthest airport from Dover Air Force Base (DOV) is Margaret River Airport (MGV), which is located 11,750 miles (18,909 kilometers) away in Margaret River, Western Australia, Australia.
• Once the airport came under military control an immediate construction program began to turn the civil airport into a military airfield.
• Dover AFB is home to the 436th Airlift Wing of the Air Mobility Command, known as the "Eagle Wing", and the AMC-gained 512th Airlift Wing of the Air Force Reserve Command, referred to as the "Liberty Wing".
• The closest airport to Dover Air Force Base (DOV) is Millville Municipal Airport (MIV), which is located 27 miles (43 kilometers) NE of DOV.
• In addition to being known as "Dover Air Force Base", another name for DOV is "Dover AFB".
• Dover Airfield was reactivated on 1 August 1950 as a result of the Korean War and the expansion of the United States Air Force in response to the Soviet threat in the Cold War.

Facts about Cairns Airport (CNS):

• The furthest airport from Cairns Airport (CNS) is Agostinho Neto Airport (NTO), which is located 11,832 miles (19,041 kilometers) away in Ponta do Sol, Santo Antão, Cape Verde.
• The closest airport to Cairns Airport (CNS) is Mareeba Airfield (MRG), which is located 26 miles (41 kilometers) WSW of CNS.
• Cairns Airport (CNS) currently has only 1 runway.
• Cairns Airport goes back to 1928 when Tom McDonald started flying his de Havilland Gipsy Moth off a sand ridge near the present airport.
• The airport has two passenger terminals on the eastern side of the airport on reclaimed mangrove swamp.
• The airport has direct flights to 20 international and 44 domestic destinations and many general aviation flights including a number of helicopter operators.
• Because of Cairns Airport's relatively low elevation of 10 feet, planes can take off or land at Cairns 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.
• Cairns Airport handled 3,848,728 passengers last year.