Nonstop flight route between San Antonio, Texas, United States and Mekelle, Tigray, Ethiopia:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Lackland Air Force Base Joint Base San Antonio (SKF), San Antonio, Texas, United States and Alula Aba Nega Airport (MQX), Mekelle, Tigray, Ethiopia would travel a Great Circle distance of 8,367 miles (or 13,466 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 Alula Aba Nega 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 Alula Aba Nega 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 named after Brigadier General Frank Lackland.
• 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.
• No other item in the 1960s compared to the incident that occurred at Lackland in February 1966 with the death of a basic trainee.
• From the Cold War demise, base realignment and closure actions in the 1990s relocated several specialized training programs at Lackland.
• 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, like many other Air Education and Training Command bases, trains enlisted airmen out of basic training in a specific specialty via various "tech schools." Lackland currently has six technical training squadrons on base training multiple airmen in various Air Force Specialty Codes.

Facts about Alula Aba Nega Airport (MQX):

• Alula Aba Nega Airport (MQX) currently has only 1 runway.
• The airport resides at an elevation of 7,406 feet above mean sea level.
• The furthest airport from Alula Aba Nega Airport (MQX) is Fangatau Airport (FGU), which is nearly antipodal to Alula Aba Nega Airport (meaning Alula Aba Nega Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Fangatau Airport), and is located 12,272 miles (19,750 kilometers) away in Fangatau, French Polynesia.
• In addition to being known as "Alula Aba Nega Airport", another name for MQX is "አሉላ አባ ነጋ ዓለም አቀፍ የአየር ማረፊያ".
• The closest airport to Alula Aba Nega Airport (MQX) is Axum Emperor Yohannes IV Airport (AXU), which is located 69 miles (111 kilometers) NW of MQX.
• Because of Alula Aba Nega Airport's high elevation of 7,406 feet, planes must typically fly at a faster airspeed in order to takeoff or land at MQX. Combined with a high temperature, this could make MQX a "Hot & High" airport, where the air density is lower than it would otherwise be at sea level.
• Alula Aba Nega Airport handled 112,060 passengers last year.