Nonstop flight route between San Antonio, Texas, United States and Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Lackland Air Force Base Joint Base San Antonio (SKF), San Antonio, Texas, United States and Belfast International Airport (BFS), Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,678 miles (or 7,528 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 Lackland Air Force Base Joint Base San Antonio and Belfast International 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 Lackland Air Force Base Joint Base San Antonio and Belfast International Airport. 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 Lackland Air Force Base Joint Base San Antonio (SKF):

• Lackland AFB is part of Joint Base San Antonio, an amalgamation of the United States Army Fort Sam Houston, the United States Air Force Randolph Air Force Base and Lackland Air Force Base, which were merged on 1 October 2010.
• Lackland AFB hosts a collection of vintage military aircraft on static display on its parade grounds, including a B-52 Stratofortress, F-4 Phantom II, SR-71 Blackbird, C-121 Constellation, B-17 Flying Fortress and a B-25 Mitchell.
• The Vietnam War buildup necessitated a "split-phase" training from August 1965 to April 1966.
• The furthest airport from Lackland Air Force Base Joint Base San Antonio (SKF) is Sir Gaëtan Duval Airport (RRG), which is located 11,124 miles (17,902 kilometers) away in Rodrigues Island, Mauritius.
• Lackland now consists of the Kelly airstrip, Security Hill, main base Lackland, and the old Medina officer training base now named Medina/Lackland Training Annex.
• By late 1959 Lackland was also performing air-traffic-control duties for the Federal Aviation Administration.
• As a result of the Korean War, training populations at Lackland soared to 28 basic military training squadrons within the 3700th Military Training Wing.
• In late 1951 Air Defense Command selected Lackland Air Force Base as one of twenty-eight radar stations built as part of the second segment of the permanent radar surveillance network.
• The closest airport to Lackland Air Force Base Joint Base San Antonio (SKF) is Stinson Municipal Airport (SSF), which is located only 7 miles (12 kilometers) ESE of SKF.
• On 1 February 1953 the 741st Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron was activated at Lackland 29°23′16.4″N 98°37′59.9″W / 29.387889°N 98.633306°W / 29.387889.

Facts about Belfast International Airport (BFS):

• The furthest airport from Belfast International Airport (BFS) is Ryan's Creek Aerodrome (SZS), which is located 11,847 miles (19,065 kilometers) away in Stewart Island, New Zealand.
• Despite these additional flights, passengers at Belfast International did not rise beyond 6 million in 2008 as some had predicted but in fact fell by 10,000 passengers to 5.2 million.
• Civil traffic began in 1922 when flights were conducted flying newspapers from Chester, and a regular civil air service started in 1933.
• Belfast International Airport (BFS) has 2 runways.
• The closest airport to Belfast International Airport (BFS) is George Best Belfast City Airport (BHD), which is located only 14 miles (23 kilometers) E of BFS.
• The airport was privatised in 1994.
• One of the outcomes of the wartime airfield construction programme was the building of Nutts Corner Airport, just 3 mi from Aldergrove.
• By the 1950s civil air traffic had outstripped the facilities at Nutts Corner and, in addition, aircraft were being regularly diverted to Aldergrove because of adverse weather conditions.
• In 1983 the airport, renamed Belfast International, was regularly accommodating the largest civil aircraft in service, and with the installation of new technology was capable of all weather operations.
• Because of Belfast International Airport's relatively low elevation of 268 feet, planes can take off or land at Belfast 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.
• Belfast International Airport handled 4,023,336 passengers last year.
• In addition to being known as "Belfast International Airport", another name for BFS is "Belfast/Aldergrove Airport".