Nonstop flight route between London, England, United Kingdom and Cold Bay, Alaska, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Gatwick Airport (LGW), London, England, United Kingdom and Cold Bay Airport (CDB), Cold Bay, Alaska, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,020 miles (or 8,079 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 Gatwick Airport and Cold Bay 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 Gatwick Airport and Cold Bay 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 Gatwick Airport (LGW):

• Because of Gatwick Airport's relatively low elevation of 203 feet, planes can take off or land at Gatwick 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.
• From 1978 to 2008, many flights to and from the United States used Gatwick because of restrictions on the use of Heathrow implemented in the Bermuda II agreement between the UK and the US.US Airways, Gatwick's last remaining US carrier, ended service from the airport on 30 March 2013.
• Despite the rapid expansion of BUA's scheduled activities at Gatwick, the airport was dominated by non-scheduled services into the 1980s.
• In May 1950, Gatwick's first charter flight left the airport's original grass runway for Calvi on the Mediterranean island of Corsica.
• The first scheduled flight departed from the Beehive terminal on 17 May 1936, bound for Paris.
• Gatwick Airport (LGW) has 2 runways.
• Caledonian Airways purchased British United Airways in November 1970, and the combined airline was initially known as Caledonian/BUA.
• Between 1958 and 1959, Sudan Airways and BWIA West Indies Airways were among Gatwick's first scheduled overseas airlines.
• Gatwick Airport handled 35,444,206 passengers last year.
• The furthest airport from Gatwick Airport (LGW) is Chatham Islands (CHT), which is located 11,901 miles (19,152 kilometers) away in Waitangi, Chatham Islands, New Zealand.
• The closest airport to Gatwick Airport (LGW) is Redhill Aerodrome (KRH), which is located only 5 miles (8 kilometers) NNE of LGW.

Facts about Cold Bay Airport (CDB):

• Cold Bay Airport (CDB) has 2 runways.
• In addition to being known as "Cold Bay Airport", other names for CDB include "Cold Bay Air Force Station" and "Fort Randall Army Airfield".
• In the spring and summer of 1945, Cold Bay was the site of the largest and most ambitious transfer program of World War II, Project Hula, in which the United States transferred 149 ships and craft to the Soviet Union and trained 12,000 Soviet personnel in their operation in anticipation of the Soviet Union entering the war against Japan.
• The furthest airport from Cold Bay Airport (CDB) is Cape Town International Airport (CPT), which is located 10,968 miles (17,652 kilometers) away in Cape Town, South Africa.
• The airport was constructed during World War II as Fort Randall Army Airfield during the secret military buildup of the Territory of Alaska that began in 1941.
• According to Federal Aviation Administration records, the airport had 9,105 passenger boardings in calendar year 2008, 8,968 enplanements in 2009, and 9,261 in 2010.
• Cold Bay's main runway is the fifth-largest in Alaska and was built during World War II.
• Between 1956 and 1958, Cold Bay Airport was used as a logistics support base during the construction of Cold Bay Air Force Station, a Ground Control Intercept station for Alaskan Air Command during the Cold War.
• Because of Cold Bay Airport's relatively low elevation of 102 feet, planes can take off or land at Cold Bay 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 closest airport to Cold Bay Airport (CDB) is King Cove Airport (KVC), which is located only 19 miles (31 kilometers) ESE of CDB.
• The airfield was named Thornbrough Air Force Base in 1948 for Captain George W.