Nonstop flight route between Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and Tripoli, Libya:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between United States Naval Station Guantanamo Bay (NBW), Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and Mitiga International Airport (MJI), Tripoli, Libya would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,395 miles (or 8,683 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 United States Naval Station Guantanamo Bay and Mitiga 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 United States Naval Station Guantanamo Bay and Mitiga 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 United States Naval Station Guantanamo Bay (NBW):

• Guantanamo Bay Naval Base is located on 45 square miles of land and water at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, which the United States leased for use as a coaling and naval station in the Cuban–American Treaty of 1903.
• Leeward Point of the Naval Station is the site of the active airfield.
• The closest airport to United States Naval Station Guantanamo Bay (NBW) is Mariana Grajales Airport (GAO), which is located only 13 miles (21 kilometers) N of NBW.
• Beginning in 2002, a small portion of the base was used to detain several hundred alleged combatants at Camp Delta, Camp Echo, Camp Iguana, and the now-closed Camp X-Ray.
• During the war the base was set up to use a non-descript number for postal operations.
• The furthest airport from United States Naval Station Guantanamo Bay (NBW) is RAAF Learmonth (LEA), which is located 11,820 miles (19,022 kilometers) away in Exmouth, Western Australia, Australia.

Facts about Mitiga International Airport (MJI):

• On 25 October 2011, Google Earth released mutlispectral imagery from Geo Eye taken on 28 August which showed the airfield as well as the highly capable MiG-25 aircraft without any visible damage.
• After 1970, the facility was known as Okba Ben Nafi Air Base, a Libyan People's Air Force installation.
• Because of Mitiga International Airport's relatively low elevation of 36 feet, planes can take off or land at Mitiga 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.
• In addition to being known as "Mitiga International Airport", another name for MJI is "مطار امعيتيقة الدولي".
• The furthest airport from Mitiga International Airport (MJI) is Rarotonga International Airport (RAR), which is located 11,524 miles (18,546 kilometers) away in Avarua, Cook Islands.
• Operation El Dorado Canyon included eighteen 48 TFW F-111F "Aardvark" fighter-bombers, five EF-111A "Sparkvarks" from the 66th Electronic Combat Wing/42nd Electronic Combat Squadron at RAF Upper Heyford, UK, and carrier-based US Navy F-14 Tomcats and A-6E Intruders.
• During the 2011 Libyan civil war, the The Times and The Guardian reported claims that the airport had been taken over by protestors opposed to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.
• Mitiga International Airport (MJI) has 2 runways.
• On 13 March 2011, Ali Atiyya, a colonel of the Libyan Air Force at the airport, defected and joined the anti-Gaddafi forces.
• The fourteen-hour 9,300-kilometre round trip to Libya required numerous in-air refuelings, because countries closer to Libya – Spain, Italy, France, and Greece – had refused American planes permission to fly over or from bases in their countries.
• The closest airport to Mitiga International Airport (MJI) is Tripoli International Airport (TIP), which is located only 18 miles (28 kilometers) SSW of MJI.