Nonstop flight route between Sal Island, Cape Verde and Lakenheath, England, United Kingdom:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Amílcar Cabral International Airport (SID), Sal Island, Cape Verde and RAF Lakenheath (LKZ), Lakenheath, England, United Kingdom would travel a Great Circle distance of 2,777 miles (or 4,468 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 Amílcar Cabral International Airport and RAF Lakenheath, 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 Amílcar Cabral International Airport and RAF Lakenheath. 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 Amílcar Cabral International Airport (SID):

• The closest airport to Amílcar Cabral International Airport (SID) is Aristides Pereira International Airport (BVC), which is located 42 miles (68 kilometers) S of SID.
• The furthest airport from Amílcar Cabral International Airport (SID) is Bellona/Anua Airport (BNY), which is nearly antipodal to Amílcar Cabral International Airport (meaning Amílcar Cabral International Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Bellona/Anua Airport), and is located 12,018 miles (19,341 kilometers) away in Anua, Bellona Island, Solomon Islands.
• Amílcar Cabral International Airport, also known as Sal International Airport or Amílcar Cabral Airport, is the principal international airport of Cape Verde.
• Amílcar Cabral International Airport (SID) has 2 runways.
• In 1967, Sal was used again as a refueling stop, this time by South African Airways, for flights to and from Europe, since SAA was denied landing rights by most African countries due to the international boycott of apartheid.
• In addition to being known as "Amílcar Cabral International Airport", another name for SID is "Aeroporto Internacional Amílcar Cabral".
• Because of Amílcar Cabral International Airport's relatively low elevation of 177 feet, planes can take off or land at Amílcar Cabral 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.
• Between 1960 and 1967 Sal was a stop of the Voo da amizade, a dedicated service between Brazil and Portugal.
• Amílcar Cabral International Airport handled 576 passengers last year.
• The first airport on Sal Island was built in 1939 by Italy, as a fuel and provisions stopping-point on routes from Rome to South America.

Facts about RAF Lakenheath (LKZ):

• The closest airport to RAF Lakenheath (LKZ) is RAF Mildenhall (MHZ), which is located only 4 miles (7 kilometers) SW of LKZ.
• In 1940, the Air Ministry selected Lakenheath as an alternative for RAF Mildenhall and used it as a decoy airfield.
• Following French president Charles de Gaulle's insistence in 1959 that all non-French nuclear-capable forces should be withdrawn from his country, the USAF began a redeployment of its North American F-100-equipped units from France.
• On 27 November 1948, operational control of RAF Lakenheath was transferred from the Royal Air Force to USAFE.
• Aircraft of the 48th FW carry the tail code "LN".
• The furthest airport from RAF Lakenheath (LKZ) is Chatham Islands (CHT), which is located 11,827 miles (19,034 kilometers) away in Waitangi, Chatham Islands, New Zealand.