Nonstop flight route between Rennes, France and Anchorage, Alaska, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Rennes–Saint-Jacques Airport (RNS), Rennes, France and Elmendorf Air Force Base (EDF), Anchorage, Alaska, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,677 miles (or 7,527 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 Rennes–Saint-Jacques Airport and Elmendorf Air Force 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 Rennes–Saint-Jacques Airport and Elmendorf Air Force 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 Rennes–Saint-Jacques Airport (RNS):

• Due to the raising traffic in the Nantes Atlantique Airport, there is now an ongoing regional project to build a second large airport between Rennes and Nantes that will service both cities.
• This airport has some local competition with the Dinard Pleurtuit Saint-Malo Airport, on the Channel coast, preferred by low cost companies for passengers.
• Rennes–Saint-Jacques Airport (RNS) has 3 runways.
• The closest airport to Rennes–Saint-Jacques Airport (RNS) is Dinard–Pleurtuit–Saint-Malo Airport (DNR), which is located 39 miles (63 kilometers) NNW of RNS.
• Before the construction of this airport, Rennes had a small hippodrome which was used as a landing strip in Gayeulles, to the northeast of the city.
• Because of Rennes–Saint-Jacques Airport's relatively low elevation of 124 feet, planes can take off or land at Rennes–Saint-Jacques 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.
• Rennes was attacked by Eighth Air Force B-17 Flying Fortress bombers on 9 January 1944, and was overflown on several night leaflet drops during the spring of 1944.
• In addition to being known as "Rennes–Saint-Jacques Airport", another name for RNS is "Aéroport de Rennes – Saint-JacquesAdvanced Landing Ground (ALG) A-27".
• The furthest airport from Rennes–Saint-Jacques Airport (RNS) is Chatham Islands (CHT), which is nearly antipodal to Rennes–Saint-Jacques Airport (meaning Rennes–Saint-Jacques Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Chatham Islands), and is located 12,048 miles (19,390 kilometers) away in Waitangi, Chatham Islands, New Zealand.

Facts about Elmendorf Air Force Base (EDF):

• The late 1950s, 1960s, and early 1970s brought about a gradual, but significant decline in air defense forces in Alaska due to mission changes and the demands of the Vietnam War.
• The furthest airport from Elmendorf Air Force Base (EDF) is Port Elizabeth International Airport (PLZ), which is located 10,542 miles (16,965 kilometers) away in Port Elizabeth, South Africa.
• The Elmendorf AFB is a site of one of the now decommissioned FLR-9 Wullenweber-class antennas, a node of the now obsolete High Frequency SIGINT direction finding system.
• The closest airport to Elmendorf Air Force Base (EDF) is Merrill Field (MRI), which is located only 3 miles (5 kilometers) SSW of EDF.
• In addition to being known as "Elmendorf Air Force Base", another name for EDF is "JB Elmendorf-Richardson".
• On 22 September 1995, a Boeing E-3 Sentry Airborne early warning and control aircraft with 22 USAF personnel and two Canadian air crew members crashed after ingesting a flock of Canada Geese, killing all on board.