Nonstop flight route between Belo Horizonte, Brazil and Okinawa Prefecture, Japan:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Belo Horizonte/Pampulha–Carlos Drummond de Andrade Airport (PLU), Belo Horizonte, Brazil and Kadena Air Base 嘉手納飛行場 Kadena Hikōjō (DNA), Okinawa Prefecture, Japan would travel a Great Circle distance of 11,745 miles (or 18,902 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 Belo Horizonte/Pampulha–Carlos Drummond de Andrade Airport and Kadena Air Base 嘉手納飛行場 Kadena Hikōjō, 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 Belo Horizonte/Pampulha–Carlos Drummond de Andrade Airport and Kadena Air Base 嘉手納飛行場 Kadena Hikōjō. 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 Belo Horizonte/Pampulha–Carlos Drummond de Andrade Airport (PLU):

• In 1943 the runway was extended to 1,500m x 45m, in 1953 to 1,700m, and finally in 1961 to 2,505m.
• However, due to the long distance between Belo Horizonte and Confins, Pampulha remained the airport of choice for most airlines, eventually becoming overcrowded, while Confins was under-used.
• The furthest airport from Belo Horizonte/Pampulha–Carlos Drummond de Andrade Airport (PLU) is Central Field (Iwo Jima)Motoyama No. 2Airfield No. 2 (IWO), which is located 11,958 miles (19,244 kilometers) away in Iwo Jima, Bonin Islands, Japan.
• Belo Horizonte/Pampulha–Carlos Drummond de Andrade Airport handled 989,599 passengers last year.
• The airport is operated by Infraero.
• Belo Horizonte/Pampulha–Carlos Drummond de Andrade Airport (PLU) currently has only 1 runway.
• The closest airport to Belo Horizonte/Pampulha–Carlos Drummond de Andrade Airport (PLU) is Tancredo Neves/Confins International Airport (CNF), which is located only 16 miles (25 kilometers) N of PLU.
• In addition to being known as "Belo Horizonte/Pampulha–Carlos Drummond de Andrade Airport", another name for PLU is "Aeroporto de Belo Horizonte/Pampulha–Carlos Drummond de Andrade".

Facts about Kadena Air Base 嘉手納飛行場 Kadena Hikōjō (DNA):

• The designation of the wing changed on 1 October 1991 to the 18th Wing with the implementation of the Objective Wing concept.
• Twentieth Air Force was inactivated in March 1955.
• In addition to being known as "Kadena Air Base 嘉手納飛行場 Kadena Hikōjō", another name for DNA is "Kadena AFB".
• Kadena Air Base's history dates back to just before the 1 April 1945, Battle of Okinawa, when a local construction firm completed a small airfield named Yara Hikojo near the island's village of Kadena.
• The furthest airport from Kadena Air Base 嘉手納飛行場 Kadena Hikōjō (DNA) is Paulo Abdala Airport (FBE), which is nearly antipodal to Kadena Air Base 嘉手納飛行場 Kadena Hikōjō (meaning Kadena Air Base 嘉手納飛行場 Kadena Hikōjō is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Paulo Abdala Airport), and is located 12,381 miles (19,926 kilometers) away in Francisco Beltrao, Paraná, Brazil.
• The closest airport to Kadena Air Base 嘉手納飛行場 Kadena Hikōjō (DNA) is Naha Airport (OKA), which is located only 13 miles (21 kilometers) SW of DNA.
• Since November 1954, the 18th Wing under various designations has been the main United States Air Force operational unit at Kadena.