Nonstop flight route between Funchal, Madeira, Portugal and Lakenheath, England, United Kingdom:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Madeira Airport (FNC), Funchal, Madeira, Portugal and RAF Lakenheath (LKZ), Lakenheath, England, United Kingdom would travel a Great Circle distance of 1,614 miles (or 2,597 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 relatively short distance between Madeira Airport and RAF Lakenheath, the route shown on this map most likely still appears to be a straight line.

Departure Airport Information:

Arrival Airport Information:

Facts about Madeira Airport (FNC):

• The airport has a single terminal which opened in 1973.
• The closest airport to Madeira Airport (FNC) is Porto Santo Airport (PXO), which is located 36 miles (58 kilometers) NE of FNC.
• In addition to being known as "Madeira Airport", another name for FNC is "Aeroporto da Madeira".
• Madeira Airport (FNC) currently has only 1 runway.
• Madeira Airport was officially opened on 18 July 1964, with two 1,600 m runways.
• Because of Madeira Airport's relatively low elevation of 190 feet, planes can take off or land at Madeira 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 History Channel program Most Extreme Airports ranked it as the 9th most dangerous airport in the world, and the second most dangerous in Europe after Gibraltar International Airport.
• Madeira Airport handled 2,311,380 passengers last year.
• The furthest airport from Madeira Airport (FNC) is Lord Howe Island Airport (LDH), which is nearly antipodal to Madeira Airport (meaning Madeira Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Lord Howe Island Airport), and is located 12,181 miles (19,604 kilometers) away in Lord Howe Island, New South Wales, Australia.

Facts about RAF Lakenheath (LKZ):

• The furthest airport from RAF Lakenheath (LKZ) is Chatham Islands (CHT), which is located 11,827 miles (19,034 kilometers) away in Waitangi, Chatham Islands, New Zealand.
• The reason for the departure of the two bomber squadrons was Lakenheath's selection for upgrading to a Very Heavy Bomber airfield.
• Meanwhile on 30 April 1956, two Lockheed U-2s were airlifted to RAF Lakenheath to form CIA Detachment A.
• In response to the threat by the Soviet Union, by the 1948 Berlin blockade, President Truman decided to realign USAFE into a permanent combat-capable force.
• Cold War tensions with the Soviet Union in Europe began as early as 1946.
• The work entailed removal of the existing runways and laying new ones comprising 12 inches of high-grade concrete.
• The closest airport to RAF Lakenheath (LKZ) is RAF Mildenhall (MHZ), which is located only 4 miles (7 kilometers) SW of LKZ.
• In early 1943, three T-2 hangars were erected on the north side of the airfield for glider storage, 40 Horsa Gliders being dispersed at Lakenheath during that year.
• The 48th Fighter Wing at RAF Lakenheath is the Statue of Liberty Wing, the only USAF wing with both a number and a name.