Nonstop flight route between Nice, France and Pituffik, Greenland:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Nice Côte d'Azur Airport (NCE), Nice, France and Thule Air Base (THU), Pituffik, Greenland would travel a Great Circle distance of 3,079 miles (or 4,955 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 Nice Côte d'Azur 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 Nice Côte d'Azur 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 Nice Côte d'Azur Airport (NCE):

• In 2013, There were 11,554,195 passengers.
• The closest airport to Nice Côte d'Azur Airport (NCE) is Monaco Heliport (MCM), which is located only 11 miles (18 kilometers) ENE of NCE.
• Nice Côte d'Azur Airport handled 11,222,042 passengers last year.
• Nice Côte d'Azur Airport (NCE) has 2 runways.
• The airport is positioned 7 km west of the city centre, and is the principal port of arrival for passengers to the Côte d'Azur.
• Because of Nice Côte d'Azur Airport's relatively low elevation of 13 feet, planes can take off or land at Nice Côte d'Azur 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 furthest airport from Nice Côte d'Azur Airport (NCE) is Chatham Islands (CHT), which is nearly antipodal to Nice Côte d'Azur Airport (meaning Nice Côte d'Azur Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Chatham Islands), and is located 12,253 miles (19,720 kilometers) away in Waitangi, Chatham Islands, New Zealand.
• In addition to being known as "Nice Côte d'Azur Airport", another name for NCE is "Aéroport Nice Côte d'Azur".

Facts about Thule Air Base (THU):

• In addition to being known as "Thule Air Base", another name for THU is "Thule AB".
• In 1957 construction began on 4 Nike Missile sites around the base, and they and their radar systems were operational by the end of 1958.
• The Pentagon maintained that all four weapons had been destroyed.
• Knud Rasmussen was the first to recognize the Pituffik plain as ideal for an airport.
• The closest airport to Thule Air Base (THU) is Savissivik Heliport (SVR), which is located 69 miles (111 kilometers) ESE of THU.
• 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.
• In the winter of 1956/57 three KC-97 tankers and alternately one of two RB-47H aircraft made polar flights to inspect Soviet defenses.
• Thule AB was constructed in secret under the code name Operation Blue Jay, but the project was made public in September 1952.
• A cluster of huts known as Pituffik stood on the wide plain where the base was built in 1951.
• Originally established as a Strategic Air Command installation, Thule would periodically serve as a dispersal base for B-36 Peacemaker and B-47 Stratojet aircraft during the 1950s, as well as providing an ideal site to test the operability and maintainability of these weapon systems in extreme cold weather.