Nonstop flight route between London, England, United Kingdom and Vientiane, Laos:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Gatwick Airport (LGW), London, England, United Kingdom and Wattay International Airport (VTE), Vientiane, Laos would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,787 miles (or 9,313 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 Wattay International 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 Wattay International 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 name "Gatwick" was first recorded as "Gatwik" in 1241 on the site of today's airport, on the northern edge of the North Terminal's aircraft taxiing area.
• In May 1950, Gatwick's first charter flight left the airport's original grass runway for Calvi on the Mediterranean island of Corsica.
• 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.
• Gatwick Airport (LGW) has 2 runways.
• On 6 July 1935, the aerodrome closed temporarily for renovations, which included the construction of the "Beehive", the world's first circular terminal building.
• In July 1952, the British government confirmed that the airport would be renovated, primarily for aircraft diverted from Heathrow in bad weather.
• In November 1948, the airport's owners warned that it might revert to private use by November 1949.
• 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.
• 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.
• The closest airport to Gatwick Airport (LGW) is Redhill Aerodrome (KRH), which is located only 5 miles (8 kilometers) NNE of LGW.
• Caledonian Airways purchased British United Airways in November 1970, and the combined airline was initially known as Caledonian/BUA.

Facts about Wattay International Airport (VTE):

• In addition to being known as "Wattay International Airport", other names for VTE include "ສະໜາມບິນສາກົນວັດໄຕ" and "สนามบินนานาชาติวัตไต".
• Because of Wattay International Airport's relatively low elevation of 564 feet, planes can take off or land at Wattay 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.
• The head office of the Department of Civil Aviation is on the airport property.
• The furthest airport from Wattay International Airport (VTE) is Maria Reiche Neuman Airport (NZC), which is nearly antipodal to Wattay International Airport (meaning Wattay International Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Maria Reiche Neuman Airport), and is located 12,165 miles (19,578 kilometers) away in Nazca, Ica Region, Peru.
• Wattay International Airport (VTE) currently has only 1 runway.
• The closest airport to Wattay International Airport (VTE) is Udon Thani International Airport ท่าอากาศยานอุดรธานี (UTH), which is located 44 miles (71 kilometers) SSE of VTE.