Nonstop flight route between Mansa, Luapula Province, Zambia and Akrotiri, Cyprus:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Mansa Airport (MNS), Mansa, Luapula Province, Zambia and RAF Akrotiri (AKT), Akrotiri, Cyprus would travel a Great Circle distance of 3,171 miles (or 5,103 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 Mansa Airport and RAF Akrotiri, 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 Mansa Airport and RAF Akrotiri. 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 Mansa Airport (MNS):

• The furthest airport from Mansa Airport (MNS) is Hilo International Airport (ITO), which is located 11,789 miles (18,972 kilometers) away in Hilo, Hawaii, United States.
• Mansa Airport (MNS) currently has only 1 runway.
• The closest airport to Mansa Airport (MNS) is Lubumbashi International Airport (FBM), which is located 96 miles (155 kilometers) WSW of MNS.
• Because of Mansa Airport's high elevation of 4,100 feet, planes must typically fly at a faster airspeed in order to takeoff or land at MNS. Combined with a high temperature, this could make MNS a "Hot & High" airport, where the air density is lower than it would otherwise be at sea level.

Facts about RAF Akrotiri (AKT):

• Akrotiri, along with Nicosia, assumed a very important status, as virtually the sole means for projecting British airpower into the eastern Mediterranean, outside of aircraft carriers.
• In addition to being known as "RAF Akrotiri", another name for AKT is ""Aki"".
• The furthest airport from RAF Akrotiri (AKT) is Rurutu Airport (RUR), which is located 11,556 miles (18,598 kilometers) away in Rurutu, French Polynesia.
• In September 1976 the US U-2 operations were turned over to the 9th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing, but the U-2 operation at RAF Akrotiri continued to be called Operating Location OH until September 1980.
• The closest airport to RAF Akrotiri (AKT) is Paphos International Airport (PFO), which is located 30 miles (48 kilometers) WNW of AKT.
• The station hosted the main hospital for British Forces Cyprus, The Princess Mary's Hospital, located on Cape Zevgari.
• The U-2s of the 9th Reconnaissance Wing were used in Operation Cedar Sweep to fly surveillance over Lebanon, relaying information about Hezbollah militants to Lebanese authorities, and in Operation Highland Warrior to fly surveillance over Turkey and northern Iraq to relay information to Turkish authorities.