Nonstop flight route between Kirkenes, Finnmark, Norway and Xining, Qinghai, China:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Kirkenes Airport, Høybuktmoen (KKN), Kirkenes, Finnmark, Norway and Xining Caojiabao Airport (XNN), Xining, Qinghai, China would travel a Great Circle distance of 3,450 miles (or 5,552 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 Kirkenes Airport, Høybuktmoen and Xining Caojiabao 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 Kirkenes Airport, Høybuktmoen and Xining Caojiabao 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 Kirkenes Airport, Høybuktmoen (KKN):

• The route had doubled its patronage since its introduction by 1953—the last year it was operated by DNL.
• Avinor has also proposed lowering the terrain east of the airport.
• Kirkenes Airport, Høybuktmoen handled 297,149 passengers last year.
• Kirkenes Airport, Høybuktmoen (KKN) currently has only 1 runway.
• Three airlines serve the airport with scheduled flights.
• The closest airport to Kirkenes Airport, Høybuktmoen (KKN) is Vadsø Airport (VDS), which is located 24 miles (38 kilometers) N of KKN.
• In addition to being known as "Kirkenes Airport, Høybuktmoen", another name for KKN is "Kirkenes lufthavn, Høybuktmoen".
• The furthest airport from Kirkenes Airport, Høybuktmoen (KKN) is Chatham Islands (CHT), which is located 10,424 miles (16,775 kilometers) away in Waitangi, Chatham Islands, New Zealand.
• Because of Kirkenes Airport, Høybuktmoen's relatively low elevation of 282 feet, planes can take off or land at Kirkenes Airport, Høybuktmoen 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 first aircraft to land in Sør-Varanger was part of a trial undertaken in 1922 by the Royal Norwegian Navy Air Service to test the flight time from Horten to Kirkenes.
• The runway was extended eastwards by 290 meters in the late 1990s.

Facts about Xining Caojiabao Airport (XNN):

• Because of Xining Caojiabao Airport's high elevation of 7,119 feet, planes must typically fly at a faster airspeed in order to takeoff or land at XNN. Combined with a high temperature, this could make XNN a "Hot & High" airport, where the air density is lower than it would otherwise be at sea level.
• The furthest airport from Xining Caojiabao Airport (XNN) is Carriel Sur International Airport (CCP), which is nearly antipodal to Xining Caojiabao Airport (meaning Xining Caojiabao Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Carriel Sur International Airport), and is located 12,165 miles (19,578 kilometers) away in Concepción, Bío Bío Region, Chile.
• In addition to being known as "Xining Caojiabao Airport", other names for XNN include "西宁曹家堡机场" and "Xīníng Cáojiābǎo Jīchǎng".
• Xining Caojiabao Airport (XNN) currently has only 1 runway.
• The closest airport to Xining Caojiabao Airport (XNN) is Lanzhou Zhongchuan Airport (LHW), which is located 88 miles (141 kilometers) E of XNN.
• Xining Caojiabao Airport handled 2,030,378 passengers last year.