Nonstop flight route between La Unión, Honduras[disambiguation needed] and Lukla, Nepal:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between La Unión Airport (LUI), La Unión, Honduras[disambiguation needed] and Tenzing-Hillary Airport (LUA), Lukla, Nepal would travel a Great Circle distance of 11,081 miles (or 17,832 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 La Unión Airport and Tenzing-Hillary 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 La Unión Airport and Tenzing-Hillary 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 La Unión Airport (LUI):

• Because of La Unión Airport's relatively low elevation of 528 feet, planes can take off or land at La Unión 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 closest airport to La Unión Airport (LUI) is Comodoro Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport (SCL), which is located 83 miles (134 kilometers) NE of LUI.
• La Unión Airport (LUI) currently has only 1 runway.
• In addition to being known as "La Unión Airport", other names for LUI include "La Unión Airport (Marchigüe)", "Aeropuerto La Unión" and "SCLU".
• The furthest airport from La Unión Airport (LUI) is Xi'an Xianyang International Airport (XIY), which is nearly antipodal to La Unión Airport (meaning La Unión Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Xi'an Xianyang International Airport), and is located 12,412 miles (19,976 kilometers) away in Xianyang, Shaanxi, China.

Facts about Tenzing-Hillary Airport (LUA):

• Lukla flights or flights to Tenzing-Hillary airport start in the early morning to mid day.
• In addition to being known as "Tenzing-Hillary Airport", another name for LUA is "तेन्जिङ हिलारी विमानस्थल".
• The airport's paved asphalt runway is only accessible to helicopters and small, fixed-wing, short-takeoff-and-landing aircraft such as the De Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter, Dornier Do 228, and Pilatus PC-6 Turbo Porter.
• The furthest airport from Tenzing-Hillary Airport (LUA) is Mataveri International Airport (IPC), which is located 11,446 miles (18,421 kilometers) away in Easter Island, Chile.
• Because of Tenzing-Hillary Airport's high elevation of 9,383 feet, planes must typically fly at a faster airspeed in order to takeoff or land at LUA. Combined with a high temperature, this could make LUA a "Hot & High" airport, where the air density is lower than it would otherwise be at sea level.
• Tenzing-Hillary Airport (LUA) currently has only 1 runway.
• The closest airport to Tenzing-Hillary Airport (LUA) is Phaplu Airport (PPL), which is located only 15 miles (24 kilometers) SW of LUA.
• In January 2008 the airport was renamed in honor of Sir Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay, the first people to reach the summit of Mount Everest and also to mark their efforts in the construction of this airport.