Nonstop flight route between Huntsville / Decatur, Alabama, United States and Shimojishima, Japan:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Huntsville International Airport (HSV), Huntsville / Decatur, Alabama, United States and Shimojishima Airport (SHI), Shimojishima, Japan would travel a Great Circle distance of 7,827 miles (or 12,596 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 Huntsville International Airport and Shimojishima 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 Huntsville International Airport and Shimojishima 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 Huntsville International Airport (HSV):

• This airport is in the National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2011–2015, which called it a primary commercial service airport.Federal Aviation Administration records say the airport had 612,690 passenger boardings in calendar year 2008, 572,767 in 2009 and 606,127 in 2010.
• The closest airport to Huntsville International Airport (HSV) is Redstone Army Airfield (AAF) (HUA), which is located only 6 miles (9 kilometers) ENE of HSV.
• Huntsville International Airport (HSV) has 2 runways.
• The furthest airport from Huntsville International Airport (HSV) is Margaret River Airport (MGV), which is located 11,189 miles (18,008 kilometers) away in Margaret River, Western Australia, Australia.
• In addition to being known as "Huntsville International Airport", another name for HSV is "Carl T. Jones Field".
• In 1989, Huntsville International became the first airport in the United States to install an ASR-9 dual-channel airport surveillance radar system.
• In November 1967 Eastern scheduled nine departures each weekday from the then new airport while United had four and Southern operated 17.
• From 1969 to 1980 Huntsville had nonstop or direct jet flights to Los Angeles as well as to Florida and Texas during the U.S.
• Because of Huntsville International Airport's relatively low elevation of 629 feet, planes can take off or land at Huntsville 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.

Facts about Shimojishima Airport (SHI):

• In addition to being known as "Shimojishima Airport", other names for SHI include "下地島空港" and "Shimojishima Kūkō".
• Shimojishima Airport (SHI) currently has only 1 runway.
• The closest airport to Shimojishima Airport (SHI) is Miyako Airport (MMY), which is located only 10 miles (16 kilometers) ESE of SHI.
• The furthest airport from Shimojishima Airport (SHI) is Guaraní International Airport (AGT), which is nearly antipodal to Shimojishima Airport (meaning Shimojishima Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Guaraní International Airport), and is located 12,393 miles (19,945 kilometers) away in Ciudad del Este, Paraguay.
• On July 22, 1994 Japan Transocean Air suspended flights.
• Because of Shimojishima Airport's relatively low elevation of 25 feet, planes can take off or land at Shimojishima 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 prefecture operates the airport, which has been classified as a Third Class airport since May 1979.
• In 2004, there were some protests over the use of the airport as a refueling stop by USMC helicopters returning from an exercise in the Philippines.
• In 2010, there were renewed protests against proposals to turn Shimoji Airport into a permanent USMC post.