Nonstop flight route between Mildenhall, Suffolk, England, United Kingdom and Lifuka, Ha'apai, Tonga:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between RAF Mildenhall (MHZ), Mildenhall, Suffolk, England, United Kingdom and Lifuka Island Airport (HPA), Lifuka, Ha'apai, Tonga would travel a Great Circle distance of 10,168 miles (or 16,364 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 Mildenhall and Lifuka Island 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 Mildenhall and Lifuka Island 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 Mildenhall (MHZ):

• The 95 RS supports RC-135, OC-135, and E-4 missions when theatre deployed.
• The furthest airport from RAF Mildenhall (MHZ) is Chatham Islands (CHT), which is located 11,829 miles (19,037 kilometers) away in Waitangi, Chatham Islands, New Zealand.
• In October 1991, the 6988th Electronic Security Squadron was subordinated to the Air Force Intelligence Command.
• On 1 October 2002, the 488th was re-aligned from the 67th Information Operations Wing to the 55th Wing.
• The closest airport to RAF Mildenhall (MHZ) is RAF Lakenheath (LKZ), which is located only 4 miles (7 kilometers) NE of MHZ.
• Despite its status as an RAF station, it primarily supports United States Air Force operations and is currently the home of the 100th Air Refueling Wing.
• Placed on standby status after the war, it was reopened by the Royal Air Force and became a USAF-RAF joint operation base on 11 July 1950.
• RAF Mildenhall and its sister base RAF Lakenheath have the largest United States Air Force presence in the United Kingdom.

Facts about Lifuka Island Airport (HPA):

• Lifuka Island Airport (HPA) currently has only 1 runway.
• In addition to being known as "Lifuka Island Airport", another name for HPA is "Salote Pilolevu Airport".
• The furthest airport from Lifuka Island Airport (HPA) is In Guezzam Airport (INF), which is nearly antipodal to Lifuka Island Airport (meaning Lifuka Island Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from In Guezzam Airport), and is located 12,421 miles (19,989 kilometers) away in In Guezzam, Algeria.
• The closest airport to Lifuka Island Airport (HPA) is Fuaʻamotu International Airport (TBU), which is located 114 miles (183 kilometers) SSW of HPA.
• Because of Lifuka Island Airport's relatively low elevation of 31 feet, planes can take off or land at Lifuka Island 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.