Nonstop flight route between Medan, Indonesia and Grand Forks, North Dakota, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Kualanamu International Airport (KNO), Medan, Indonesia and Grand Forks Air Force Base (RDR), Grand Forks, North Dakota, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 8,738 miles (or 14,063 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 Kualanamu International Airport and Grand Forks Air Force Base, 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 Kualanamu International Airport and Grand Forks Air Force Base. 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 Kualanamu International Airport (KNO):

• Spread on 1,365 ha land area, 20 km North East of Polonia airport, 3 km from the sea, and on a site of area 6,5 x 2,1 km.
• Because of Kualanamu International Airport's relatively low elevation of 23 feet, planes can take off or land at Kualanamu 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.
• Train services is provided by Railink, a joint venture between Angkasa Pura II and Indonesian Railway.
• Airside facilities would be controlled by the Indonesian government, while landside facilities would be owned by a joint venture with PT Angkasa Pura II, which is expected to provide $350 million as an initial investment in return for a 30-year lease, after which ownership would revert to PT Angkasa Pura II.
• The furthest airport from Kualanamu International Airport (KNO) is Cap. FAP Pedro Canga Rodríguez Airport (TBP), which is nearly antipodal to Kualanamu International Airport (meaning Kualanamu International Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Cap. FAP Pedro Canga Rodríguez Airport), and is located 12,385 miles (19,931 kilometers) away in Tumbes, Peru.
• In May 2014 a groundbreaking to make double-track from Medan to the Airport has been done and it will cut time travel at least 10 minutes from current situation when it is ready in 2017.
• Taxi costs about twice that of train tickets.
• The closest airport to Kualanamu International Airport (KNO) is Polonia International Airport (MES), which is located only 15 miles (24 kilometers) WSW of KNO.
• The airport is Indonesia's second largest, after Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, with a 224,298 m² passengers terminal and will eventually have a capacity of 50 million passengers, a figure if realised today would place the airport in the top 10 busiest by passenger numbers in the world, although by the time this figure is achieved it is likely that there will be many airports carrying more passengers.
• Kualanamu International Airport (KNO) currently has only 1 runway.
• A soft opening started on July 25, 2013.
• In addition to being known as "Kualanamu International Airport", other names for KNO include "Kualanamu International Airport (Medan)" and "Bandar Udara Internasional Kualanamu".

Facts about Grand Forks Air Force Base (RDR):

• In addition to the interceptor squadrons, a Semi Automatic Ground Environment Data Center was established at Grand Forks in 1958.
• The furthest airport from Grand Forks Air Force Base (RDR) is Margaret River Airport (MGV), which is located 10,504 miles (16,904 kilometers) away in Margaret River, Western Australia, Australia.
• During 1965, the wing’s three missile squadrons were activated and crew training and certification began at Vandenberg AFB in southern California.
• The closest airport to Grand Forks Air Force Base (RDR) is Grand Forks International Airport (GFK), which is located only 10 miles (17 kilometers) E of RDR.
• On 3 September 1974, the SAFSCOM Site Activation Team was relieved by the U.S.
• On 26 May 1972, President Nixon and Soviet general secretary Leonid Brezhnev signed the ABM Treaty, which limited each nation to one site to protect strategic forces and one site to protect the "National Command Authority." With work about 85 percent complete at Grand Forks, the United States chose to finish construction at the North Dakota site.
• Due to the continuance of the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union, GFAFB was originally an Air Defense Command fighter-interceptor air base.
• In addition to being known as "Grand Forks Air Force Base", another name for RDR is "Grand Forks AFB".