Nonstop flight route between Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa and Georgetown, Ascension Island, Saint Helena:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between O. R. Tambo International Airport (JNB), Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa and RAF Ascension (ASI), Georgetown, Ascension Island, Saint Helena would travel a Great Circle distance of 3,064 miles (or 4,931 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 O. R. Tambo International Airport and RAF Ascension, 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 O. R. Tambo International Airport and RAF Ascension. 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 O. R. Tambo International Airport (JNB):

• The airport overtook Cairo International Airport in 1996 as the busiest airport in Africa and is the third-busiest airport in the Africa–Middle East region after Dubai International Airport and Doha International Airport.
• In addition to being known as "O. R. Tambo International Airport", another name for JNB is "Johannesburg International Airport".
• South African Airways is headquartered in Airways Park on the grounds of O.
• Because of O. R. Tambo International Airport's high elevation of 5,558 feet, planes must typically fly at a faster airspeed in order to takeoff or land at JNB. Combined with a high temperature, this could make JNB a "Hot & High" airport, where the air density is lower than it would otherwise be at sea level.
• Airports Company South Africa reported that major new developments took place at the airport, in preparation for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
• It was used as a test airport for the Concorde during the 1970s, to determine how the aircraft would perform while taking off and landing at high altitude.
• O. R. Tambo International Airport handled 18,794,897 passengers last year.
• The furthest airport from O. R. Tambo International Airport (JNB) is Hana Airport (HNM), which is located 11,979 miles (19,279 kilometers) away in Hana, Hawaii, United States.
• The closest airport to O. R. Tambo International Airport (JNB) is Rand Airport (QRA), which is located only 9 miles (15 kilometers) SW of JNB.
• O. R. Tambo International Airport (JNB) has 2 runways.

Facts about RAF Ascension (ASI):

• The furthest airport from RAF Ascension (ASI) is Ujae Airport (UJE), which is nearly antipodal to RAF Ascension (meaning RAF Ascension is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Ujae Airport), and is located 12,370 miles (19,907 kilometers) away in Ujae Atoll, Marshall Islands.
• RAF Ascension Island is also the refuelling point for the Ministry of Defence's South Atlantic Air Bridge flights to RAF Mount Pleasant, on the Falkland Islands, from RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire, in the UK.
• The NASA Tracking Station at Devil's Ashpit and the Cable & Wireless Earth Station at Donkey Plain were built in the "mid-sixties" for space operations and communications, including the latter's use for transmitting "microwave borne data via the Early Bird Satellite back to the NASA facility at Andover, Maine.
• The closest airport to RAF Ascension (ASI) is Sasstown Airport (SAZ), which is located 965 miles (1,553 kilometers) NNE of ASI.
• In addition to being known as "RAF Ascension", another name for ASI is "Wideawake Airbase/Field".