Nonstop flight route between London, England, United Kingdom and Melbourne, Victoria, Australia:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Gatwick Airport (LGW), London, England, United Kingdom and Essendon Airport (MEB), Melbourne, Victoria, Australia would travel a Great Circle distance of 10,506 miles (or 16,908 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 Essendon 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 Essendon 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):

• Gatwick Airport handled 35,444,206 passengers last year.
• The first scheduled flight departed from the Beehive terminal on 17 May 1936, bound for Paris.
• 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.
• Although the airport was officially decommissioned in 1946, the Ministry of Transport and Civil Aviation continued operating it as a civil airfield.
• 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.
• Queen Elizabeth II flew into Gatwick on 9 June 1958 in a de Havilland Heron of the Queen's Flight for the opening.
• A second 875-foot extension of Gatwick's runway was completed in 1970, bringing it to 9,075 ft and permitting non-stop jet flights to the US east coast with a full payload and full range and payload operations by British United Airways and Caledonian Airways BAC One-Eleven 500s.BEA Airtours made Gatwick their base.
• Gatwick Airport (LGW) has 2 runways.
• The closest airport to Gatwick Airport (LGW) is Redhill Aerodrome (KRH), which is located only 5 miles (8 kilometers) NNE of LGW.
• Pope John Paul II arrived at the airport on 28 May 1982 on an Alitalia Boeing 727-200 Advanced, beginning the first papal visit to the United Kingdom.
• BAA Limited and its predecessors, BAA plc and the British Airports Authority, owned and operated Gatwick from 1 April 1966 to 2 December 2009.

Facts about Essendon Airport (MEB):

• The airfield itself also has undergone a major upgrade with the installation of lighting and signage systems to bring the airport to International Civil Aviation Organization standards.
• Because of Essendon Airport's relatively low elevation of 282 feet, planes can take off or land at Essendon 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.
• Essendon Airport is located at Essendon, in Melbourne's northern suburbs, Victoria, Australia.
• The area of the airport was originally known as St Johns, after an early landowner.
• On 31 January 1945, a heavily-modified Stinson Model A registered VH-UYY and named Tokana, operated by Australian National Airways, departed from Essendon Airport for the daily flight to Kerang.
• Essendon Airport (MEB) has 2 runways.
• The major passenger airlines using Essendon in the postwar years until scheduled air services were transferred to Tullamarine were Ansett Airlines and Trans Australia Airlines.
• The closest airport to Essendon Airport (MEB) is Melbourne Airport (MEL), which is located only 5 miles (8 kilometers) NW of MEB.
• In addition to being known as "Essendon Airport", another name for MEB is "Melbourne/Essendon".
• A variety of aircraft were used through Essendon in the 1960s - Lockheed L-188 Electras.
• The furthest airport from Essendon Airport (MEB) is Flores Airport (FLW), which is nearly antipodal to Essendon Airport (meaning Essendon Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Flores Airport), and is located 12,192 miles (19,620 kilometers) away in Flores Island, Azores, Portugal.