Nonstop flight route between Great Falls, Montana, United States and Shangri-La, Yunnan, China:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Malmstrom Air Force Base (GFA), Great Falls, Montana, United States and Dêqên Shangri-La Airport (DIG), Shangri-La, Yunnan, China would travel a Great Circle distance of 6,891 miles (or 11,090 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 Malmstrom Air Force Base and Dêqên Shangri-La 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 Malmstrom Air Force Base and Dêqên Shangri-La 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 Malmstrom Air Force Base (GFA):

• In addition to being known as "Malmstrom Air Force Base", another name for GFA is "Malmstrom AFB".
• The closest airport to Malmstrom Air Force Base (GFA) is Great Falls International Airport (GTF), which is located only 9 miles (14 kilometers) W of GFA.
• The furthest airport from Malmstrom Air Force Base (GFA) is Sir Gaëtan Duval Airport (RRG), which is located 10,495 miles (16,891 kilometers) away in Rodrigues Island, Mauritius.
• Great Falls became the temporary home of the 582nd Air Resupply and Communications Wing on 1 May 1953 which was transferred from Mountain Home AFB, Idaho.
• With the development of the three-stage, solid-fuel Minuteman I missile in the late 1950s SAC began searching for sites to deploy this revolutionary weapon.
• After World War II ended Great Falls AAB assumed a support mission for military personnel assigned to Alaskan military installations.
• Tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union increased dramatically when the Soviet Union closed all land travel between the western occupation sectors of Germany and the American, French and British sectors of Berlin.
• DC-20 was initially under the Great Falls Air Defense Sector, established on 1 March 1959.
• Upon completion of the B-17 training program, in October 1943, Great Falls Army Air Base was transferred to the Air Transport Command and units from Gore Field were transferred to the base.

Facts about Dêqên Shangri-La Airport (DIG):

• The closest airport to Dêqên Shangri-La Airport (DIG) is Lijiang Sanyi Airport (LJG), which is located 85 miles (136 kilometers) SSE of DIG.
• Dêqên Shangri-La Airport (DIG) currently has only 1 runway.
• The furthest airport from Dêqên Shangri-La Airport (DIG) is La Florida Airport (LSC), which is located 11,866 miles (19,096 kilometers) away in La Serena, Chile.
• Because of Dêqên Shangri-La Airport's high elevation of 10,761 feet, planes must typically fly at a faster airspeed in order to takeoff or land at DIG. Combined with a high temperature, this could make DIG a "Hot & High" airport, where the air density is lower than it would otherwise be at sea level.
• In addition to being known as "Dêqên Shangri-La Airport", other names for DIG include "迪庆香格里拉机场" and "Díqìng Xiānggélǐlā Jīchǎng".