Nonstop flight route between Montrose, Colorado, United States and Kandahar, Afghanistan:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Montrose Regional Airport (MTJ), Montrose, Colorado, United States and Kabul International Airport (KDH), Kandahar, Afghanistan would travel a Great Circle distance of 7,582 miles (or 12,203 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 Montrose Regional Airport and Kabul 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 Montrose Regional Airport and Kabul 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 Montrose Regional Airport (MTJ):

• The airport is seasonal—many flights operate from MTJ only during the winter.
• The closest airport to Montrose Regional Airport (MTJ) is Telluride Regional Airport (TEX), which is located 38 miles (62 kilometers) S of MTJ.
• The furthest airport from Montrose Regional Airport (MTJ) is Sir Gaëtan Duval Airport (RRG), which is located 11,040 miles (17,766 kilometers) away in Rodrigues Island, Mauritius.
• Because of Montrose Regional Airport's high elevation of 5,759 feet, planes must typically fly at a faster airspeed in order to takeoff or land at MTJ. Combined with a high temperature, this could make MTJ a "Hot & High" airport, where the air density is lower than it would otherwise be at sea level.
• Montrose Regional Airport (MTJ) has 2 runways.

Facts about Kabul International Airport (KDH):

• Reconstruction and Canadian deployments
• The closest airport to Kabul International Airport (KDH) is Tarin Kowt Airport (TII), which is located 76 miles (123 kilometers) N of KDH.
• In addition to being known as "Kabul International Airport", other names for KDH include "Kandahar International Airport (Kandahar)" and "میدان هوایی بین المللی کندهار".
• Since 2007, the airport is maintained by NATO under the International Security Assistance Force banner, although a prominent base for the US and Canadian Forces, many other Armed Forces are based there.
• The airport was mostly used at this time for military and humanitarian purposes, hosting regular flights of the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross to and from Kabul, Jalalabad, Herat and Peshawar.
• Major battles between the Taliban and local anti-Taliban forces had been fought at the airport just days earlier, and when coalition troops arrived there were abandoned weapons - including a BM-21 still loaded with rockets - scattered around the terminal.
• As part of Operation Enduring Freedom, the Royal Air Force and Royal Navy also had based a squadron of Harrier GR7A aircraft at Kandahar Airfield to provide close air support to coalition ground forces replacing USMC AV-8B's.
• Kabul International Airport (KDH) currently has only 1 runway.
• The furthest airport from Kabul International Airport (KDH) is Mataveri International Airport (IPC), which is nearly antipodal to Kabul International Airport (meaning Kabul International Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Mataveri International Airport), and is located 12,023 miles (19,349 kilometers) away in Easter Island, Chile.