Nonstop flight route between Luxembourg-Findel, Luxembourg and Geilenkirchen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Luxembourg Airport (LUX), Luxembourg-Findel, Luxembourg and NATO Air Base Geilenkirchen E–3A Component (GKE), Geilenkirchen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany would travel a Great Circle distance of 93 miles (or 149 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 Luxembourg Airport and NATO Air Base Geilenkirchen E–3A Component, the route shown on this map most likely still appears to be a straight line.

Departure Airport Information:

Arrival Airport Information:

Facts about Luxembourg Airport (LUX):

• Construction of the new Terminal A started in 2005 and it was inaugurated in May 2008.
• The airport was originally known as "Sandweiler Airport", and was opened in the 1930s as a small grass airfield with a relatively short, 3400' runway.
• Luxembourg Airport handled 2,197,331 passengers last year.
• In addition to being known as "Luxembourg Airport", other names for LUX include "Fluchhafe Lëtzebuerg", "Aéroport de Luxembourg" and "Flughafen Luxemburg".
• United States Army combat engineers arrived at Sandweiler in mid September 1944 and performed some minor reconstruction to prepare the airfield for Ninth Air Force combat aircraft.
• The closest airport to Luxembourg Airport (LUX) is Bitburg Airport (BBJ), which is located 27 miles (44 kilometers) NE of LUX.
• Luxembourg Airport (LUX) currently has only 1 runway.
• The furthest airport from Luxembourg Airport (LUX) is Chatham Islands (CHT), which is nearly antipodal to Luxembourg Airport (meaning Luxembourg Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Chatham Islands), and is located 12,016 miles (19,338 kilometers) away in Waitangi, Chatham Islands, New Zealand.

Facts about NATO Air Base Geilenkirchen E–3A Component (GKE):

• The E-3A Component directly employs more than 3,000 personnel at NATO Air Base Geilenkirchen and therefore has a significant economic impact in the surrounding communities.
• The furthest airport from NATO Air Base Geilenkirchen E–3A Component (GKE) is Chatham Islands (CHT), which is located 11,929 miles (19,198 kilometers) away in Waitangi, Chatham Islands, New Zealand.
• NATO Air Base Geilenkirchen E–3A Component (GKE) currently has only 1 runway.
• The E-3A Component is NATO's first­ operational flying unit with multinational manning.
• Major construction on the base initially included a new 3,000-metre runway with a width of 45 metres, as well as aprons and taxiways, a control tower, an Information Technology Wing building, on-base accommodation and major renovation of the four existing hangars.
• The closest airport to NATO Air Base Geilenkirchen E–3A Component (GKE) is Merzbrück Airfield (AAH), which is located only 11 miles (18 kilometers) SSE of GKE.
• Because of NATO Air Base Geilenkirchen E–3A Component's relatively low elevation of 296 feet, planes can take off or land at NATO Air Base Geilenkirchen E–3A Component 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 January 1980 the first E-3A Component personnel started arriving at the base, and in October 1980 the NATO Defence Planning Committee granted the E-3A Component the status of a NATO International Military Headquarters.
• Flying operations at Geilenkirchen ended in January 1968 and the installation was handed over to the German Air Force in March 1968.