Nonstop flight route between Gisenyi, Rwanda and Lakenheath, England, United Kingdom:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Gisenyi Airport (GYI), Gisenyi, Rwanda and RAF Lakenheath (LKZ), Lakenheath, England, United Kingdom would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,092 miles (or 6,586 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 Gisenyi Airport and RAF Lakenheath, 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 Gisenyi Airport and RAF Lakenheath. 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 Gisenyi Airport (GYI):

• Gisenyi Airport (GYI) currently has only 1 runway.
• The closest airport to Gisenyi Airport (GYI) is Goma Airport (GOM), which is located only 2 miles (2 kilometers) WNW of GYI.
• Gisenyi Airport, is located in Rwanda's Western Province, in Rubavu District, in the town of Gisenyi, at the International border with the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
• The furthest airport from Gisenyi Airport (GYI) is Cassidy International Airport (CXI), which is located 11,980 miles (19,280 kilometers) away in Christmas Island, Kiribati.
• Because of Gisenyi Airport's high elevation of 5,082 feet, planes must typically fly at a faster airspeed in order to takeoff or land at GYI. Combined with a high temperature, this could make GYI a "Hot & High" airport, where the air density is lower than it would otherwise be at sea level.

Facts about RAF Lakenheath (LKZ):

• The closest airport to RAF Lakenheath (LKZ) is RAF Mildenhall (MHZ), which is located only 4 miles (7 kilometers) SW of LKZ.
• In April 1947, RAF Bomber Command returned to Lakenheath and had the runways repaired, resurfaced, and readied for operations by May 1948.
• The work entailed removal of the existing runways and laying new ones comprising 12 inches of high-grade concrete.
• 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 increasing tension of the Cold War lead to a re-evaluation of these deployments, and by 1953 SAC bombers began to move its heavy bomb groups further west, behind RAF fighter forces, to RAF Brize Norton, RAF Greenham Common, RAF Upper Heyford and RAF Fairford, while its shorter-range B-47 were sent to East Anglia.
• In 1941, hard runways were put down with the main runway, 04/22, being 2,000 yards, and the subsidiaries, 12/30 at 1,300 yards and 16/34 at 1,400 yards.