Nonstop flight route between Anchorage, Alaska, United States and Medan, Indonesia:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Elmendorf Air Force Base (EDF), Anchorage, Alaska, United States and Kualanamu International Airport (KNO), Medan, Indonesia would travel a Great Circle distance of 6,690 miles (or 10,767 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 Elmendorf Air Force Base and Kualanamu 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 Elmendorf Air Force Base and Kualanamu 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 Elmendorf Air Force Base (EDF):

• The late 1950s, 1960s, and early 1970s brought about a gradual, but significant decline in air defense forces in Alaska due to mission changes and the demands of the Vietnam War.
• In addition to being known as "Elmendorf Air Force Base", another name for EDF is "JB Elmendorf-Richardson".
• The adjacent facilities were officially combined by the 2005 Base Closure and Realignment Commission.
• The closest airport to Elmendorf Air Force Base (EDF) is Merrill Field (MRI), which is located only 3 miles (5 kilometers) SSW of EDF.
• The uncertain world situation in late 1940s and early 1950s caused a major buildup of air defense forces in Alaska.
• That importance was further recognized when the F-15E Strike Eagle equipped 90th Tactical Fighter Squadron was reassigned to Elmendorf Air Force Base from Clark Air Base in the Philippines in May 1991.
• The furthest airport from Elmendorf Air Force Base (EDF) is Port Elizabeth International Airport (PLZ), which is located 10,542 miles (16,965 kilometers) away in Port Elizabeth, South Africa.
• The Department of Defense proposed a major realignment of the base as part of the Base Realignment and Closure program announced on 13 May 2005.

Facts about Kualanamu International Airport (KNO):

• Polonia airport was the site of several crashes.
• Because of Kualanamu International Airport's relatively low elevation of 23 feet, planes can take off or land at Kualanamu 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.
• In addition to being known as "Kualanamu International Airport", other names for KNO include "Kualanamu International Airport (Medan)" and "Bandar Udara Internasional Kualanamu".
• The furthest airport from Kualanamu International Airport (KNO) is Cap. FAP Pedro Canga Rodríguez Airport (TBP), which is nearly antipodal to Kualanamu International Airport (meaning Kualanamu International Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Cap. FAP Pedro Canga Rodríguez Airport), and is located 12,385 miles (19,931 kilometers) away in Tumbes, Peru.
• In May 2014 a groundbreaking to make double-track from Medan to the Airport has been done and it will cut time travel at least 10 minutes from current situation when it is ready in 2017.
• The closest airport to Kualanamu International Airport (KNO) is Polonia International Airport (MES), which is located only 15 miles (24 kilometers) WSW of KNO.
• Kualanamu International Airport (KNO) currently has only 1 runway.
• The first airline uses the airport as a regional hub is Mihin Lanka which route from Jakarta to Jeddah with transit at the airport.
• It contains a 3,750 x 60 m runway, also another parallel taxi-way 3,750 m and 2,000 m that can accommodate wide-body aircraft, including the Airbus A380.
• The airport is the first in Indonesia with a publicly accessible check-in area.
• The airport is Indonesia's second largest, after Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, with a 224,298 m² passengers terminal and will eventually have a capacity of 50 million passengers, a figure if realised today would place the airport in the top 10 busiest by passenger numbers in the world, although by the time this figure is achieved it is likely that there will be many airports carrying more passengers.