Nonstop flight route between Eastleigh (near Southampton), England, United Kingdom and East London, South Africa:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Southampton Airport (SOU), Eastleigh (near Southampton), England, United Kingdom and East London Airport (ELS), East London, South Africa would travel a Great Circle distance of 6,069 miles (or 9,767 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 East London 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 Southampton Airport and East London 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 Southampton Airport (SOU):

• Southampton Airport handled 1,722,758 passengers last year.
• The site's connection with aviation can be traced back to 1910 when pioneer pilot Edwin Rowland Moon used the meadows belonging to North Stoneham Farm as a take-off and landing spot for his monoplane, Moonbeam Mk II.
• Southampton airport only has one main ground handler which is Swissport, who took over from Aviance.
• The closest airport to Southampton Airport (SOU) is Lasham Airfield (QLA), which is located 22 miles (35 kilometers) NE of SOU.
• During the 1950s a mainstay of business for the airport was the Cross channel car ferry service operated by Silver City Airways using Bristol Freighters and Superfreighters.
• Southampton Airport (SOU) currently has only 1 runway.
• 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.
• 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.
• Southampton Airport is served by a dedicated mainline railway station, Southampton Airport Parkway.
• The airport handled 1,722,758 passengers during 2013, a 1.7% increase compared with 2012, making it the 18th busiest airport in the UK.
• Southampton Airport is an airport in the UK, located 3.5 nautical miles north north-east of Southampton, in the Borough of Eastleigh within Hampshire, England.
• 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.

Facts about East London Airport (ELS):

• The airport had an inauspicious beginning in 1927, when Lieut Colonel Alistair Miller asked the East London town council to help establish a municipal aerodrome at Woodbrook, west of the city.
• Because of East London Airport's relatively low elevation of 436 feet, planes can take off or land at East London 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.
• The closest airport to East London Airport (ELS) is Port Alfred Airport (AFD), which is located 65 miles (105 kilometers) WSW of ELS.
• East London Airport (ELS) has 2 runways.
• The furthest airport from East London Airport (ELS) is Kalaupapa Airport (LUP), which is located 11,569 miles (18,618 kilometers) away in Kalaupapa, Hawaii, United States.
• In 1965 the airport was again moved, this time to its present site, 9 km west of the city centre.