Nonstop flight route between Luxembourg-Findel, Luxembourg and Shemya, Alaska, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Luxembourg Airport (LUX), Luxembourg-Findel, Luxembourg and Eareckson Air Station (SYA), Shemya, Alaska, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,331 miles (or 8,579 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 Luxembourg Airport and Eareckson Air Station, 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 Luxembourg Airport and Eareckson Air Station. 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 Luxembourg Airport (LUX):

• 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.
• Terminal B opened in 2004, the building is unique as it only has gates and no check-in counters or arrivals hall.
• In addition to being known as "Luxembourg Airport", other names for LUX include "Fluchhafe Lëtzebuerg", "Aéroport de Luxembourg" and "Flughafen Luxemburg".
• 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.
• Luxembourg Airport handled 2,197,331 passengers last year.
• 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.

Facts about Eareckson Air Station (SYA):

• With the exception of a small station housekeeping unit, Shemya was abandoned after the war.
• There is also an NDB, TACAN and a VOR on the island.
• After the disastrous attack, the focus of Eleventh Air Force was shifted to a defensive posture in the event of retaliatory attacks from the Japanese.
• The furthest airport from Eareckson Air Station (SYA) is Cape Town International Airport (CPT), which is located 10,668 miles (17,168 kilometers) away in Cape Town, South Africa.
• The closest airport to Eareckson Air Station (SYA) is Casco Cove Coast Guard Station (ATU), which is located 40 miles (65 kilometers) WNW of SYA.
• Because of Eareckson Air Station's relatively low elevation of 97 feet, planes can take off or land at Eareckson Air Station 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.
• Eareckson Air Station (SYA) currently has only 1 runway.
• By the end of 1944, several hundred American airmen had been interned by the Russians after their crippled aircraft landed on Petropavlovsk on the Kamchatka Peninsula.
• In addition to being known as "Eareckson Air Station", other names for SYA include "Shemya Air Force Base", "Shemya Army Airfield" and "  ".
• In August 1988, at least one Aries rocket was launched, relating to the Queen Match program, for anti-ballistic missile testing.
• The aerial photos taken on the raid showed the Japanese were building up forces in the area, transferring aircraft presumably from air bases on Hokkaido.