Nonstop flight route between Lakenheath, England, United Kingdom and Shanghai, People's Republic of China:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between RAF Lakenheath (LKZ), Lakenheath, England, United Kingdom and Shanghai Pudong International Airport (PVG), Shanghai, People's Republic of China would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,667 miles (or 9,119 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 Shanghai Pudong 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 RAF Lakenheath and Shanghai Pudong 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 RAF Lakenheath (LKZ):

• By 1950, Lakenheath was one of three main operating bases for the U.S.
• In April 1947, RAF Bomber Command returned to Lakenheath and had the runways repaired, resurfaced, and readied for operations by May 1948.
• 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.
• The work entailed removal of the existing runways and laying new ones comprising 12 inches of high-grade concrete.
• Meanwhile on 30 April 1956, two Lockheed U-2s were airlifted to RAF Lakenheath to form CIA Detachment A.
• The first use of Lakenheath Warren as a Royal Flying Corps airfield was in World War I, when the area was made into a bombing and ground-attack range for aircraft flying from elsewhere in the area.
• The closest airport to RAF Lakenheath (LKZ) is RAF Mildenhall (MHZ), which is located only 4 miles (7 kilometers) SW of LKZ.

Facts about Shanghai Pudong International Airport (PVG):

• In addition to being known as "Shanghai Pudong International Airport", other names for PVG include "上海浦东国际机场" and "Shànghǎi Pǔdōng Guójì Jīchǎng".
• Because of Shanghai Pudong International Airport's relatively low elevation of 13 feet, planes can take off or land at Shanghai Pudong 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.
• Construction of the first phase of the new Shanghai Pudong International Airport began in October 1997, took two years to build at a cost of RMB 12 billion, and was opened on October 1, 1999.
• Pudong Airport has two main passenger terminals, flanked on both sides by three parallel runways.
• The airport is the main hub for China Eastern Airlines and Shanghai Airlines, and a major international hub for Air China.
• Shanghai Pudong International Airport handled 44,857,200 passengers last year.
• Shanghai Pudong International Airport (PVG) has 3 runways.
• Starting service on 29 January 2004 as the first commercial high-speed maglev railway in the world, Shanghai Maglev Train links Pudong International Airport with Longyang Road Metro Station, where transfer to Line 2 or Line 7 is possible.
• The closest airport to Shanghai Pudong International Airport (PVG) is Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport (SHA), which is located 28 miles (45 kilometers) W of PVG.
• The furthest airport from Shanghai Pudong International Airport (PVG) is Comodoro Pierrestegui Airport (COC), which is nearly antipodal to Shanghai Pudong International Airport (meaning Shanghai Pudong International Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Comodoro Pierrestegui Airport), and is located 12,421 miles (19,990 kilometers) away in Concordia, Entre Ríos, Argentina.