Nonstop flight route between Wiltshire, England, United Kingdom and Xining, Qinghai, China:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between RAF Lyneham (LYE), Wiltshire, England, United Kingdom and Xining Caojiabao Airport (XNN), Xining, Qinghai, China would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,826 miles (or 7,767 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 Lyneham and Xining Caojiabao 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 Lyneham and Xining Caojiabao 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 Lyneham (LYE):

• Lyneham's position as the primary tactical transport base for the RAF was emphasised in February 1971 when Nos.
• The airfield was built in 1939, necessitating the demolition of Lyneham Court manor house, the buildings of Cranley Farm and the village's tennis courts.
• The furthest airport from RAF Lyneham (LYE) is Dunedin International Airport (DUD), which is located 11,913 miles (19,172 kilometers) away in Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand.
• 99 Squadron reformed on 17 November 1945, at RAF Lyneham equipped with the Avro York, it operated as part of the Berlin Airlift.
• Because of RAF Lyneham's relatively low elevation of 512 feet, planes can take off or land at RAF Lyneham 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 1956, with the arrival of the de Havilland Comet operated by 216 Squadron, the main runway was extended from 6,000 feet to its present length of 7,830 feet.
• The closest airport to RAF Lyneham (LYE) is RAF Fairford (FFD), which is located only 15 miles (24 kilometers) NE of LYE.
• RAF Lyneham (LYE) has 2 runways.
• A ceremony, attended by the Prime Minister David Cameron, was held at RAF Brize Norton on 31 August 2011 to mark the formal transfer the role of repatriations from RAF Lyneham.

Facts about Xining Caojiabao Airport (XNN):

• The furthest airport from Xining Caojiabao Airport (XNN) is Carriel Sur International Airport (CCP), which is nearly antipodal to Xining Caojiabao Airport (meaning Xining Caojiabao Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Carriel Sur International Airport), and is located 12,165 miles (19,578 kilometers) away in Concepción, Bío Bío Region, Chile.
• Because of Xining Caojiabao Airport's high elevation of 7,119 feet, planes must typically fly at a faster airspeed in order to takeoff or land at XNN. Combined with a high temperature, this could make XNN a "Hot & High" airport, where the air density is lower than it would otherwise be at sea level.
• The closest airport to Xining Caojiabao Airport (XNN) is Lanzhou Zhongchuan Airport (LHW), which is located 88 miles (141 kilometers) E of XNN.
• Xining Caojiabao Airport handled 2,030,378 passengers last year.
• In addition to being known as "Xining Caojiabao Airport", other names for XNN include "西宁曹家堡机场" and "Xīníng Cáojiābǎo Jīchǎng".
• Xining Caojiabao Airport (XNN) currently has only 1 runway.