Nonstop flight route between Longreach, Queensland, Australia and Falkland Islands:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Longreach Airport (LRE), Longreach, Queensland, Australia and RAF Mount Pleasant (MPN), Falkland Islands would travel a Great Circle distance of 7,058 miles (or 11,358 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 Longreach Airport and RAF Mount Pleasant, 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 Longreach Airport and RAF Mount Pleasant. 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 Longreach Airport (LRE):

• Because of Longreach Airport's relatively low elevation of 627 feet, planes can take off or land at Longreach 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 1941, the Department of Civil Aviation established the Longreach Aeradio station at the airport.
• The furthest airport from Longreach Airport (LRE) is Agostinho Neto Airport (NTO), which is located 11,625 miles (18,709 kilometers) away in Ponta do Sol, Santo Antão, Cape Verde.
• The closest airport to Longreach Airport (LRE) is Barcaldine Airport (BCI), which is located 66 miles (106 kilometers) E of LRE.
• At one time in the 1960s, Longreach airport was one of the busiest inland airports in Australia.
• In 1920, the first single engine aircraft to complete the flight from England to Australia arrived.
• The first overland flight across the Australian continent from Melbourne to Darwin passed through the airport in 1919.
• Longreach Airport (LRE) currently has only 1 runway.

Facts about RAF Mount Pleasant (MPN):

• On 10 November 2011, it was announced that Prince William would be serving as a Sea King pilot on the station for six weeks during February and March 2012.
• Flights are planned to Saint Helena when a new airport there opens in 2016.
• The furthest airport from RAF Mount Pleasant (MPN) is Mohe Gulian Airport (OHE), which is nearly antipodal to RAF Mount Pleasant (meaning RAF Mount Pleasant is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Mohe Gulian Airport), and is located 12,353 miles (19,879 kilometers) away in Mohe, Heilongjiang, China.
• RAF Mount Pleasant is a Royal Air Force station in the British Overseas Territory of the Falkland Islands.
• Mount Pleasant was opened by Prince Andrew on 12 May 1985, becoming fully operational the following year.
• RAF Mount Pleasant has a wide range of social and sporting facilities including a gym, swimming pool, golf course, diving centre, karting, laserquest, library, cinema, bowling, climbing wall and indoor and outdoor sports pitches.
• 33 Engineer Regiment provides constant support and is part of the Joint Service Falkland Islands Detachment which consists of RAF and RLC EOD teams.
• The British government felt that Stanley airfield was not the best option for a large, permanent station and decided to construct a new RAF station and make it the centrepiece of considerably strengthened air defences for the Falkland Islands, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands.
• The closest airport to RAF Mount Pleasant (MPN) is Port Stanley Airport (PSY), which is located 30 miles (49 kilometers) ENE of MPN.