Nonstop flight route between Geilenkirchen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany and Lübeck (near Hamburg), Schleswig-Holstein, Germany:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between NATO Air Base Geilenkirchen E–3A Component (GKE), Geilenkirchen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany and Lübeck Airport (LBC), Lübeck (near Hamburg), Schleswig-Holstein, Germany would travel a Great Circle distance of 278 miles (or 448 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 NATO Air Base Geilenkirchen E–3A Component and Lübeck Airport, the route shown on this map most likely still appears to be a straight line.

Departure Airport Information:

Arrival Airport Information:

Facts about NATO Air Base Geilenkirchen E–3A Component (GKE):

• The closest airport to NATO Air Base Geilenkirchen E–3A Component (GKE) is Merzbrück Airfield (AAH), which is located only 11 miles (18 kilometers) SSE of GKE.
• Normally, only a certain number of the E-3As and TCAs are present at NATO Air Base Geilenkirchen at any given time.
• The furthest airport from NATO Air Base Geilenkirchen E–3A Component (GKE) is Chatham Islands (CHT), which is located 11,929 miles (19,198 kilometers) away in Waitangi, Chatham Islands, New Zealand.
• Major construction on the base initially included a new 3,000-metre runway with a width of 45 metres, as well as aprons and taxiways, a control tower, an Information Technology Wing building, on-base accommodation and major renovation of the four existing hangars.
• NATO Air Base Geilenkirchen E–3A Component (GKE) currently has only 1 runway.
• NATO Air Base Geilenkirchen is located near Geilenkirchen, Germany.
• In January 1980 the first E-3A Component personnel started arriving at the base, and in October 1980 the NATO Defence Planning Committee granted the E-3A Component the status of a NATO International Military Headquarters.
• Following NATO’s decision to establish the NATO Airborne Early Warning & Control Force program and to make the base near Teveren the Main Operating Base of the E­3A Component, a major construction program was started in 1980 to modify the operational and support facilities.
• Because of NATO Air Base Geilenkirchen E–3A Component's relatively low elevation of 296 feet, planes can take off or land at NATO Air Base Geilenkirchen E–3A Component 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 Component operates seventeen Boeing E-3A AWACS aircraft all of which are based on the Boeing 707 airframe Trainer Cargo Aircraft but which have since been retired).

Facts about Lübeck Airport (LBC):

• Lübeck Airport (LBC) currently has only 1 runway.
• The closest airport to Lübeck Airport (LBC) is Hamburg Airport (HAM), which is located 32 miles (52 kilometers) WSW of LBC.
• In addition to being known as "Lübeck Airport", another name for LBC is "Flughafen Lübeck".
• Infratil, an infrastructure investment company from New Zealand held a 90% shareholding from November 2005 until the end of October 2009 when it sold its shares back to the City of Lübeck.
• The local bus line 6 runs every 20 minutes and connects the airport with Lübeck's main bus station/ZOB.
• The furthest airport from Lübeck Airport (LBC) is Chatham Islands (CHT), which is located 11,674 miles (18,787 kilometers) away in Waitangi, Chatham Islands, New Zealand.
• Lübeck Airport handled 537,835 passengers last year.
• There are some additional holiday charter routes on behalf of local tour operators which are served only a few times a season.
• Because of Lübeck Airport's relatively low elevation of 53 feet, planes can take off or land at Lübeck 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.