Nonstop flight route between East London, South Africa and Essex (near London), England, United Kingdom:
Departure Airport:

Arrival Airport:

Distance from ELS to STN:
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- About this route
- ELS Airport Information
- STN Airport Information
- Facts about ELS
- Facts about STN
- Map of Nearest Airports to ELS
- List of Nearest Airports to ELS
- Map of Furthest Airports from ELS
- List of Furthest Airports from ELS
- Map of Nearest Airports to STN
- List of Nearest Airports to STN
- Map of Furthest Airports from STN
- List of Furthest Airports from STN
About this route:
A direct, nonstop flight between East London Airport (ELS), East London, South Africa and London Stansted Airport (STN), Essex (near London), England, United Kingdom would travel a Great Circle distance of 6,101 miles (or 9,818 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 East London Airport and London Stansted 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 East London Airport and London Stansted Airport. You'll see that it will travel the same route of the red line on this map!
Departure Airport Information:
IATA / ICAO Codes: | ELS / FAEL |
Airport Name: | East London Airport |
Location: | East London, South Africa |
GPS Coordinates: | 33°2'5"S by 27°49'17"E |
Area Served: | East London, Eastern Cape, South Africa |
Airport Type: | Public |
Elevation: | 436 feet (133 meters) |
# of Runways: | 2 |
View all routes: | Routes from ELS |
More Information: | ELS Maps & Info |
Arrival Airport Information:
IATA / ICAO Codes: | STN / EGSS |
Airport Name: | London Stansted Airport |
Location: | Essex (near London), England, United Kingdom |
GPS Coordinates: | 51°53'5"N by 0°14'6"E |
Area Served: | London, United Kingdom |
Operator/Owner: | Manchester Airports Group |
Airport Type: | Public |
Elevation: | 348 feet (106 meters) |
# of Runways: | 1 |
View all routes: | Routes from STN |
More Information: | STN Maps & Info |
Facts about East London Airport (ELS):
- Because of East London Airport's relatively low elevation of 436 feet, planes can take off or land at East London 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.
- Passenger flights were undertaken by two de Havilland Moth planes on Saturday afternoons and all day on Sundays, weather permitting.
- The closest airport to East London Airport (ELS) is Port Alfred Airport (AFD), which is located 65 miles (105 kilometers) WSW of ELS.
- East London Airport resides at an elevation of 435 feet above mean sea level.
- East London Airport is an airport serving East London, a city in the Eastern Cape province on the southeast coast of South Africa.
- The furthest airport from East London Airport (ELS) is Kalaupapa Airport (LUP), which is located 11,569 miles (18,618 kilometers) away in Kalaupapa, Hawaii, United States.
- East London Airport (ELS) has 2 runways.
Facts about London Stansted Airport (STN):
- London Stansted Airport (STN) currently has only 1 runway.
- Stansted is the newest passenger airport of all the main London airports.
- The terminal building was designed by Foster Associates with input from the structural engineer Peter Rice and features a "floating" roof, supported by a space frame of inverted-pyramid roof trusses, creating the impression of a stylised swan in flight.
- Long haul transatlantic operations made a return to Stansted in June 2010, when Sun Country Airlines announced a seasonal weekly service from Stansted to Minneapolis.
- London Stansted Airport handled 17,852,393 passengers last year.
- London Stansted Airport is an international airport located at Stansted Mountfitchet in the local government district of Uttlesford in Essex, 48 km northeast of Central London and 1.5 km from the Hertfordshire border.
- The furthest airport from London Stansted Airport (STN) is Chatham Islands (CHT), which is located 11,858 miles (19,084 kilometers) away in Waitangi, Chatham Islands, New Zealand.
- The airfield opened in 1943 and was used during the Second World War as RAF Stansted Mountfitchet by the Royal Air Force and the United States Army Air Forces as a bomber airfield and as a major maintenance depot.
- Because of London Stansted Airport's relatively low elevation of 348 feet, planes can take off or land at London Stansted 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.
- From 1997 to 2007 Stansted saw rapid expansion of passenger numbers on the back of the boom in low cost air travel, peaking at 24 million passengers in the 12 months to October 2007, but passenger numbers declined for the subsequent five years to 2012.
- Stansted is a major freight airport, the third busiest in the UK during 2013, behind London Heathrow and East Midlands Airport, handling in excess of 210,000 tonnes per annum, although freight throughput has declined slightly from its 2005 peak level.
- The closest airport to London Stansted Airport (STN) is MDPGA Wethersfield (WXF), which is located only 13 miles (21 kilometers) ENE of STN.