Nonstop flight route between Minot, North Dakota, United States and Osaka, Japan:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Minot Air Force Base (MIB), Minot, North Dakota, United States and Kansai International Airport (KIX), Osaka, Japan would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,736 miles (or 9,231 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 Minot Air Force Base and Kansai 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 Minot Air Force Base and Kansai 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 Minot Air Force Base (MIB):

• The closest airport to Minot Air Force Base (MIB) is Minot International Airport (MOT), which is located only 12 miles (19 kilometers) SSE of MIB.
• In addition to being known as "Minot Air Force Base", another name for MIB is "Minot AFB".
• Command of Minot AFB passed from Air Defense Command to SAC in July 1962 as the base's primary mission changed from air defense to strategic deterrence.
• A Semi Automatic Ground Environment facility was built and activated in June 1961.
• Under standard procedure, the four-officer crew of the facility is supposed to keep the component secure until it is returned to the base.
• The 91st Missile Wing of the Global Strike Command is responsible for maintaining the Minuteman III nuclear missiles, located in three main fields to the north, west, and south of the base.
• The 4th Post Attack Command & Control Squadron at Ellsworth AFB, SD maintained several EC-135 "Looking Glass" Aircraft on an alert at MAFB for coverage of the missile squadrons as a secondary Launch Control Center.
• The 810th Strategic Aerospace Division was inactivated 30 June 1971.
• The furthest airport from Minot Air Force Base (MIB) is Margaret River Airport (MGV), which is located 10,320 miles (16,609 kilometers) away in Margaret River, Western Australia, Australia.

Facts about Kansai International Airport (KIX):

• The second runway opened on 2 August 2007, but with the originally planned terminal portion postponed.
• Because of Kansai International Airport's relatively low elevation of 17 feet, planes can take off or land at Kansai 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.
• The closest airport to Kansai International Airport (KIX) is Kobe Airport (UKB), which is located only 14 miles (22 kilometers) N of KIX.
• The airport had been deeply in debt, losing $560 million in interest every year.
• Since July 2008, Osaka Prefecture governor Toru Hashimoto has been a vocal critic of Itami Airport, arguing that the Chuo Shinkansen maglev line will make much of its domestic role irrelevant, and that its domestic functions should be transferred to Kansai Airport in conjunction with upgraded high-speed access to Kansai from central Osaka.
• The merger of the Itami and Kansai airport authorities was completed in July 2012.
• A new terminal building opened in late 2012.
• The furthest airport from Kansai International Airport (KIX) is Rio Grande Regional Airport (RIG), which is located 11,980 miles (19,279 kilometers) away in Rio Grande, Brazil.
• Kansai International Airport (KIX) has 2 runways.
• It is colloquially known as Kankū in Japanese.
• Terminal 2 is a low-cost carrier terminal designed to attract more LCCs by providing lower landing fees than terminal 1.
• On 17 January 1995, Japan was struck by the Kobe earthquake, whose epicenter was about 20 km away from KIX and killed 6,434 people on Japan's main island of Honshū.
• In addition to being known as "Kansai International Airport", other names for KIX include "関西国際空港" and "Kansai Kokusai Kūkō".