Nonstop flight route between Lympne, Kent, England, United Kingdom and Cape Town, South Africa:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Lympne Airport (LYM), Lympne, Kent, England, United Kingdom and Cape Town International Airport (CPT), Cape Town, South Africa would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,973 miles (or 9,613 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 Lympne Airport and Cape Town International 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 Lympne Airport and Cape Town International 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 Lympne Airport (LYM):

• On 1 January 1946, RAF Lympne was handed over to the Ministry of Civil Aviation and became a civil airport once more.
• In addition to being known as "Lympne Airport", another name for LYM is "Ashford Airport".
• In January 1929, a Notice to Airmen said that when visibility was bad any aircraft not fitted with radios were warned against using the Croydon–Edenbridge–Ashford–Lympne route or any of the alternative routes notified in 1927.
• Work began on creating a landing ground at Folks Wood, Lympne, in the autumn of 1915.
• On 1 January 1927, new regulations came into effect which meant that aircraft carrying 10 or more passengers would have to carry a radio operator in addition to the pilot.
• From 1–31 May 1924, the Royal Air Force conducted a number of night flying experiments.
• The furthest airport from Lympne Airport (LYM) is Chatham Islands (CHT), which is located 11,921 miles (19,184 kilometers) away in Waitangi, Chatham Islands, New Zealand.
• In April 1935, Air Traffic Control in the United Kingdom was improved by the introduction of a new control zone system.
• In January 1925, notification that red edge lights had been installed along the runways and taxiways at Lympne was made.
• Because of Lympne Airport's relatively low elevation of 351 feet, planes can take off or land at Lympne 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 Lympne Airport (LYM) is Lydd International Airport (LYX), which is located only 9 miles (15 kilometers) SSW of LYM.
• Lympne Airport (LYM) currently has only 1 runway.
• A meeting was held over the Easter weekend in 1928 by the Cinque Ports Flying Club.

Facts about Cape Town International Airport (CPT):

• Apart from completion of the 2010 expansion project, it has been proposed that a second runway for large aircraft be constructed at Cape Town International Airport.
• Cape Town International Airport recorded 7.8 million passengers in 2008–2009, down from 8.4 million passengers the year before.
• Arriving passengers collect luggage in the old sections of their respective terminals, before proceeding through new passageways to the new Central Terminal Building.
• The furthest airport from Cape Town International Airport (CPT) is Princeville Airport (HPV), which is located 11,616 miles (18,693 kilometers) away in Hanalei, Hawaii, United States.
• Cape Town International Airport (CPT) has 2 runways.
• The closest airport to Cape Town International Airport (CPT) is George Airport (GRJ), which is located 217 miles (349 kilometers) E of CPT.
• With the fall of apartheid in the early 1990s, ownership of the airport was transferred from the state to the newly formed Airports Company South Africa, and the airport was renamed to the politically neutral Cape Town International Airport.
• Cape Town International Airport handled 8,505,563 passengers last year.
• The following is an example of information required by aircrew to operate at this airport.
• The airport has direct flights from South Africa's other two main urban areas, Johannesburg and Durban, as well as flights to smaller centres in South Africa.
• Because of Cape Town International Airport's relatively low elevation of 151 feet, planes can take off or land at Cape Town International 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.
• Cape Town International Airport was opened in 1954, a year after Jan Smuts Airport on the Witwatersrand opened.