Nonstop flight route between Maastricht, Limburg, Netherlands and Pituffik, Greenland:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Maastricht Aachen Airport (MST), Maastricht, Limburg, Netherlands and Thule Air Base (THU), Pituffik, Greenland would travel a Great Circle distance of 2,586 miles (or 4,161 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 Maastricht Aachen Airport and Thule Air Base, 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 Maastricht Aachen Airport and Thule Air Base. 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 Maastricht Aachen Airport (MST):

• The closest airport to Maastricht Aachen Airport (MST) is NATO Air Base Geilenkirchen E–3A Component (GKE), which is located only 12 miles (19 kilometers) ENE of MST.
• In 1992 the Belgian town of Tongeren became shareholder of the airport.
• In 1973 the airport was expanded again to handle bigger aircraft.
• Plans for an airport in southern Limburg date back as far as 1919, with various locations being considered.
• On 14 May 1985, Pope John Paul II held an open air mass for 50,000 people at the airport, as part of his visit to the Netherlands.
• The Maastricht Upper Area Control Centre of the European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation is also located on the airport.
• Maastricht Aachen Airport handled 36,300 passengers last year.
• Because of Maastricht Aachen Airport's relatively low elevation of 375 feet, planes can take off or land at Maastricht Aachen 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.
• As Nazi Germany was rapidly collapsing, the front was already well into Germany by the time the field was ready, and no direct combat sorties were operated from Y-44.
• The late 1950s and early 1960s brought significant expansion in commercial operations at the airport.
• Maastricht Aachen Airport (MST) currently has only 1 runway.
• The furthest airport from Maastricht Aachen Airport (MST) is Chatham Islands (CHT), which is located 11,935 miles (19,207 kilometers) away in Waitangi, Chatham Islands, New Zealand.

Facts about Thule Air Base (THU):

• Knud Rasmussen was the first to recognize the Pituffik plain as ideal for an airport.
• In 1949, Denmark joined NATO and abandoned its attempt to remove the United States bases.
• Late 1950s the DEW 1 to 4 where build as "weather stations", Thule Air Base would act as an supply station for the DYE bases.
• The closest airport to Thule Air Base (THU) is Savissivik Heliport (SVR), which is located 69 miles (111 kilometers) ESE of THU.
• Thule AB was constructed in secret under the code name Operation Blue Jay, but the project was made public in September 1952.
• Thule is the location where the fastest recorded sea level surface wind speed in the world was measured when a peak speed of 333 kilometres per hour was recorded on 8 March 1972 prior to the instrument's destruction.
• In addition to being known as "Thule Air Base", another name for THU is "Thule AB".
• The furthest airport from Thule Air Base (THU) is Hobart International Airport (HBA), which is located 9,883 miles (15,905 kilometers) away in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia.