Nonstop flight route between Ruislip, England, United Kingdom and Cairns, Queensland, Australia:
Departure Airport:

Arrival Airport:

Distance from NHT to CNS:
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- About this route
- NHT Airport Information
- CNS Airport Information
- Facts about NHT
- Facts about CNS
- Map of Nearest Airports to NHT
- List of Nearest Airports to NHT
- Map of Furthest Airports from NHT
- List of Furthest Airports from NHT
- Map of Nearest Airports to CNS
- List of Nearest Airports to CNS
- Map of Furthest Airports from CNS
- List of Furthest Airports from CNS
About this route:
A direct, nonstop flight between RAF Northolt (NHT), Ruislip, England, United Kingdom and Cairns Airport (CNS), Cairns, Queensland, Australia would travel a Great Circle distance of 9,411 miles (or 15,145 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 RAF Northolt and Cairns 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 RAF Northolt and Cairns Airport. You'll see that it will travel the same route of the red line on this map!
Departure Airport Information:
IATA / ICAO Codes: | NHT / EGWU |
Airport Name: | RAF Northolt |
Location: | Ruislip, England, United Kingdom |
GPS Coordinates: | 51°33'11"N by 0°25'5"W |
Operator/Owner: | Ministry of Defence |
View all routes: | Routes from NHT |
More Information: | NHT Maps & Info |
Arrival Airport Information:
IATA / ICAO Codes: | CNS / YBCS |
Airport Name: | Cairns Airport |
Location: | Cairns, Queensland, Australia |
GPS Coordinates: | 16°53'12"S by 145°45'17"E |
Area Served: | Cairns, Queensland, Australia |
Operator/Owner: | North Queensland Airports Group |
Airport Type: | Public |
Elevation: | 10 feet (3 meters) |
# of Runways: | 1 |
View all routes: | Routes from CNS |
More Information: | CNS Maps & Info |
Facts about RAF Northolt (NHT):
- Northolt pre-dates the establishment of the Royal Air Force by almost three years, having opened in May 1915.
- Four Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft arrived at the station from RAF Coningsby on 2 May 2012 to take part in a security exercise as part of preparations for the 2012 Summer Olympics.
- The closest airport to RAF Northolt (NHT) is London Heathrow Airport (LHR), which is located only 6 miles (9 kilometers) SSW of NHT.
- During 1952 a total of 50,000 air movements were recorded per annum, making the airfield the busiest in Europe.
- Attention was high again in 2001 when Ronnie Biggs, the seriously ill, fugitive Great Train Robber, was flown from Brazil to the airfield to be arrested by waiting police officers.
- Thirty Allied airmen including servicemen from Belgium, Canada, Czechoslovakia, New Zealand, Poland and the United Kingdom were killed flying from RAF Northolt during the Battle of Britain, of whom ten were Polish.
- In 1943, the station became the first to fly sorties using Supermarine Spitfire Mk IXs in German airspace in support of bomber operations.
- The furthest airport from RAF Northolt (NHT) is Chatham Islands (CHT), which is located 11,871 miles (19,105 kilometers) away in Waitangi, Chatham Islands, New Zealand.
Facts about Cairns Airport (CNS):
- The furthest airport from Cairns Airport (CNS) is Agostinho Neto Airport (NTO), which is located 11,832 miles (19,041 kilometers) away in Ponta do Sol, Santo Antão, Cape Verde.
- The airport has a single runway which is 3,156 m long.
- Cairns Airport (CNS) currently has only 1 runway.
- The closest airport to Cairns Airport (CNS) is Mareeba Airfield (MRG), which is located 26 miles (41 kilometers) WSW of CNS.
- During the 1970s, Australia's two domestic airlines Trans Australia Airlines and Ansett provided regular scheduled services to most Australian capital cities and also Papua New Guinea, while in 1975 Air Niugini became the first international airline to commence flights out of Cairns, to Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea.
- Because of Cairns Airport's relatively low elevation of 10 feet, planes can take off or land at Cairns 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.
- Airport shuttle bus services to hotels, city centre, Northern Beaches, Palm Cove, Port Douglas and Cape Tribulation are available.
- Cairns Airport handled 3,848,728 passengers last year.