Nonstop flight route between Lakenheath, England, United Kingdom and Hamilton Island, Queensland, Australia:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between RAF Lakenheath (LKZ), Lakenheath, England, United Kingdom and Great Barrier Reef Airport (HTI), Hamilton Island, Queensland, Australia would travel a Great Circle distance of 9,653 miles (or 15,535 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 RAF Lakenheath and Great Barrier Reef 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 RAF Lakenheath and Great Barrier Reef 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 RAF Lakenheath (LKZ):

• The closest airport to RAF Lakenheath (LKZ) is RAF Mildenhall (MHZ), which is located only 4 miles (7 kilometers) SW of LKZ.
• In 1941, hard runways were put down with the main runway, 04/22, being 2,000 yards, and the subsidiaries, 12/30 at 1,300 yards and 16/34 at 1,400 yards.
• In response to the threat by the Soviet Union, by the 1948 Berlin blockade, President Truman decided to realign USAFE into a permanent combat-capable force.
• 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 27 November 1948, operational control of RAF Lakenheath was transferred from the Royal Air Force to USAFE.
• A near nuclear accident occurred on 27 July 1956 – when a B-47 bomber crashed into a storage igloo at Lakenheath containing three MK-6 nuclear weapons while on a routine training mission.

Facts about Great Barrier Reef Airport (HTI):

• Great Barrier Reef Airport handled 457,641 passengers last year.
• The furthest airport from Great Barrier Reef Airport (HTI) is Agostinho Neto Airport (NTO), which is located 11,990 miles (19,297 kilometers) away in Ponta do Sol, Santo Antão, Cape Verde.
• The airport suffered heavily in September 2001 with the demise of Ansett Australia, which operated more heavily out of the airport than any other airline with flights to Cairns, Townsville, Brisbane, the Gold Coast, Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide.
• The closest airport to Great Barrier Reef Airport (HTI) is Whitsunday Airport (WSY), which is located only 14 miles (22 kilometers) WNW of HTI.
• Because of Great Barrier Reef Airport's relatively low elevation of 15 feet, planes can take off or land at Great Barrier Reef 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.
• In addition to being known as "Great Barrier Reef Airport", another name for HTI is "Hamilton Island".
• Great Barrier Reef Airport (HTI) currently has only 1 runway.