Nonstop flight route between Lakenheath, England, United Kingdom and Beja, Portugal:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between RAF Lakenheath (LKZ), Lakenheath, England, United Kingdom and Beja Airport (BYJ), Beja, Portugal would travel a Great Circle distance of 1,071 miles (or 1,724 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 relatively short distance between RAF Lakenheath and Beja Airport, the route shown on this map most likely still appears to be a straight line.

Departure Airport Information:

Arrival Airport Information:

Facts about RAF Lakenheath (LKZ):

• The furthest airport from RAF Lakenheath (LKZ) is Chatham Islands (CHT), which is located 11,827 miles (19,034 kilometers) away in Waitangi, Chatham Islands, New Zealand.
• On 1 May 1951, Lakenheath was transferred from USAFE to SAC, and placed under the 3909th Air Base Group.
• The work entailed removal of the existing runways and laying new ones comprising 12 inches of high-grade concrete.
• Although an RAF station, it hosts United States Air Force units and personnel.
• Control of RAF Lakenheath was allocated to Third Air Force at South Ruislip Air Station, which had command of SAC B-29 operations in England.
• The closest airport to RAF Lakenheath (LKZ) is RAF Mildenhall (MHZ), which is located only 4 miles (7 kilometers) SW of LKZ.
• In 1940, the Air Ministry selected Lakenheath as an alternative for RAF Mildenhall and used it as a decoy airfield.
• The squadron markings consisted of alternating stripes across the tailfin in squadron colours, with a shadowed "V" shaped chevron on the nose.

Facts about Beja Airport (BYJ):

• An airbase was established on 21 October 1964, originally built to serve as a training facility for the West German Air Force, due to airspace limitations within West Germany.
• Beja Airport (BYJ) has 2 runways.
• The furthest airport from Beja Airport (BYJ) is New Plymouth Airport (NPL), which is nearly antipodal to Beja Airport (meaning Beja Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from New Plymouth Airport), and is located 12,306 miles (19,804 kilometers) away in New Plymouth, New Zealand.
• The closest airport to Beja Airport (BYJ) is Portimão Airport (PRM), which is located 73 miles (118 kilometers) SSW of BYJ.
• Along with the airports in Lisbon, Porto, Faro, Flores, Santa Maria, Ponta Delgada and Horta, the airport's concessions to provide support to civil aviation was conceded to ANA Aeroportos de Portugal on 18 December 1998, under provisions of decree 404/98.
• Because of Beja Airport's relatively low elevation of 636 feet, planes can take off or land at Beja 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.
• Beja Airport is an unused Portuguese airport that opened doors to civilian flights on April 15, 2011.
• In addition to being known as "Beja Airport", another name for BYJ is "Aeroporto de Beja".