Nonstop flight route between Anchorage, Alaska, United States and Lüliang, Shanxi, China:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Elmendorf Air Force Base (EDF), Anchorage, Alaska, United States and Lüliang Airport (LLV), Lüliang, Shanxi, China would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,254 miles (or 6,846 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 Lüliang 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 Lüliang 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):

• Construction on Elmendorf Field began on 8 June 1940, as a major and permanent military airfield near Anchorage.
• The Elmendorf AFB is a site of one of the now decommissioned FLR-9 Wullenweber-class antennas, a node of the now obsolete High Frequency SIGINT direction finding system.
• Air defense forces reached their zenith in 1957 with almost 200 fighter aircraft assigned to six fighter interceptor squadrons located at Elmendorf AFB and Ladd AFB.
• 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.
• In addition to being known as "Elmendorf Air Force Base", another name for EDF is "JB Elmendorf-Richardson".
• On 16 November 2010, a Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor took off for a training mission.
• 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 first Air Force unit to be assigned to Alaska, the 18th Pursuit Squadron, arrived in February 1941.
• Following World War II, Elmendorf assumed an increasing role in the defense of North America as the uncertain wartime relations between the United States and the Soviet Union deteriorated into the Cold War.

Facts about Lüliang Airport (LLV):

• In addition to being known as "Lüliang Airport", other names for LLV include "吕梁机场", "Lǚliáng Jīchǎng" and "ZBLL".
• The furthest airport from Lüliang Airport (LLV) is Colonia Catriel Airport (CCT), which is nearly antipodal to Lüliang Airport (meaning Lüliang Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Colonia Catriel Airport), and is located 12,379 miles (19,922 kilometers) away in Colonia Catriel, Río Negro, Argentina.
• The closest airport to Lüliang Airport (LLV) is Taiyuan Wuxu International Airport (TYN), which is located 81 miles (131 kilometers) E of LLV.