Nonstop flight route between Eastleigh (near Southampton), England, United Kingdom and Georgetown, Ascension Island, Saint Helena:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Southampton Airport (SOU), Eastleigh (near Southampton), England, United Kingdom and RAF Ascension (ASI), Georgetown, Ascension Island, Saint Helena would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,145 miles (or 6,671 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 Southampton Airport and RAF Ascension, 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 Southampton Airport and RAF Ascension. 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 Southampton Airport (SOU):

• The closest airport to Southampton Airport (SOU) is Lasham Airfield (QLA), which is located 22 miles (35 kilometers) NE of SOU.
• The furthest airport from Southampton Airport (SOU) is Dunedin International Airport (DUD), which is located 11,918 miles (19,179 kilometers) away in Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand.
• Because of Southampton Airport's relatively low elevation of 44 feet, planes can take off or land at Southampton 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.
• Southampton Airport handled 1,722,758 passengers last year.
• During the First World War, when forces from the United States Navy arrived in 1917, work on the building of hangars began.
• On 5 March 1936 the first test flight of the Supermarine Spitfire took place at the airport, an event commemorated in 2004 by the erection of a near-full size sculpture of K5054, the prototype Spitfire, at the road entrance.
• Southampton Airport (SOU) currently has only 1 runway.

Facts about RAF Ascension (ASI):

• RAF Ascension Island was re-garrisoned by the RAF in 1982 and used extensively as a staging base during the Falklands War.
• The Target Tracking Radar Station was a Nike Zeus test facility for tracking reentry vehicles from Cape Canaveral missile launches.
• In addition to being known as "RAF Ascension", another name for ASI is "Wideawake Airbase/Field".
• The RAF presence on Ascension is backed up by United States Air Force personnel, who contribute a similar number of service personnel to ensure the effective running of the station, under the command of Captain Eduard Rodriguez, who is responsible to the RAF Station Commander.
• The furthest airport from RAF Ascension (ASI) is Ujae Airport (UJE), which is nearly antipodal to RAF Ascension (meaning RAF Ascension is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Ujae Airport), and is located 12,370 miles (19,907 kilometers) away in Ujae Atoll, Marshall Islands.
• The closest airport to RAF Ascension (ASI) is Sasstown Airport (SAZ), which is located 965 miles (1,553 kilometers) NNE of ASI.
• Ascension serves as a diversion airport for ETOPS aircraft crossing the Atlantic.