Nonstop flight route between Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom and Shemya, Alaska, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Glasgow International Airport (GLA), Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom and Eareckson Air Station (SYA), Shemya, Alaska, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,934 miles (or 7,940 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 Glasgow International Airport and Eareckson Air Station, 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 Glasgow International Airport and Eareckson Air Station. 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 Glasgow International Airport (GLA):

• Glasgow International Airport handled 7,363,764 passengers last year.
• Further growth is hampered by the airport's location, which is constrained by the M8 motorway to the south, the town of Renfrew to the east and the River Clyde to the north.
• The West Pier, built as part of the 1989 extension project, is the principal international and long haul departure point, with some gates capable of handling Boeing 747 aircraft.
• Glasgow International Airport (GLA) currently has only 1 runway.
• The closest airport to Glasgow International Airport (GLA) is Glasgow-Prestwick Airport (PIK), which is located 26 miles (42 kilometers) SSW of GLA.
• The history of the present Glasgow Airport goes back to 1932, when the site at Abbotsinch, between the Black Cart Water and the White Cart Water, near Paisley in Renfrewshire, was opened and the Royal Air Force 602 Squadron Auxiliary Air Force moved its Wapiti IIA aircraft from nearby Renfrew in January 1933.
• The airport is home to the Scottish regional airline Loganair, currently a Flybe franchise operator, who have their head office located on site.
• Because of Glasgow International Airport's relatively low elevation of 26 feet, planes can take off or land at Glasgow International 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.
• In 1940, a torpedo training unit was formed, which trained both RAF and Royal Navy crews.
• The first commercial flight to arrive was a British European Airways flight from Edinburgh, landing at 8 am on 2 May 1966.
• In addition to being known as "Glasgow International Airport", another name for GLA is "Port-adhair Eadar-nàiseanta Ghlaschu".
• The furthest airport from Glasgow International Airport (GLA) is Ryan's Creek Aerodrome (SZS), which is located 11,739 miles (18,892 kilometers) away in Stewart Island, New Zealand.

Facts about Eareckson Air Station (SYA):

• In July 1973, Raytheon won a contract to build a system called COBRA DANE on Shemya.
• Shemya also continued to support the Great Circle Route for MATS and later Military Airlift Command transports between Japan and Elmendorf AFB.
• On 28 May 1943, a small detachment of Alaskan Scouts began reconnaissance of Shemya, a small, flat, uninhabited island 35 miles to the east of Attu.
• The closest airport to Eareckson Air Station (SYA) is Casco Cove Coast Guard Station (ATU), which is located 40 miles (65 kilometers) WNW of SYA.
• By the end of 1944, several hundred American airmen had been interned by the Russians after their crippled aircraft landed on Petropavlovsk on the Kamchatka Peninsula.
• The furthest airport from Eareckson Air Station (SYA) is Cape Town International Airport (CPT), which is located 10,668 miles (17,168 kilometers) away in Cape Town, South Africa.
• Because of Eareckson Air Station's relatively low elevation of 97 feet, planes can take off or land at Eareckson Air Station 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.
• Eareckson Air Station (SYA) currently has only 1 runway.
• In addition to being known as "Eareckson Air Station", other names for SYA include "Shemya Air Force Base", "Shemya Army Airfield" and "  ".