Nonstop flight route between Saipan Island, Northern Mariana Islands and London, England, United Kingdom:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Saipan International Airport (SPN), Saipan Island, Northern Mariana Islands and Gatwick Airport (LGW), London, England, United Kingdom would travel a Great Circle distance of 7,418 miles (or 11,938 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 Saipan International Airport and Gatwick 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 Saipan International Airport and Gatwick 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 Saipan International Airport (SPN):

• The closest airport to Saipan International Airport (SPN) is Tinian International Airport (TIQ), which is located only 11 miles (18 kilometers) SW of SPN.
• Saipan International Airport covers an area of 734 acres which contains one paved runway measuring 8,700 x 200 ft.
• In addition to being known as "Saipan International Airport", other names for SPN include "Francisco C. Ada Airport" and "GSN".
• The furthest airport from Saipan International Airport (SPN) is Salvador-Deputado Luís Eduardo Magalhães International Airport (2 de Julho) (SSA), which is nearly antipodal to Saipan International Airport (meaning Saipan International Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Salvador-Deputado Luís Eduardo Magalhães International Airport (2 de Julho)), and is located 12,125 miles (19,514 kilometers) away in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil.
• Because of Saipan International Airport's relatively low elevation of 215 feet, planes can take off or land at Saipan 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.
• Japanese tourists began visiting Saipan in large numbers during the 1970s.
• After several months of disappointing high level bombing attacks from Isely, General Curtis LeMay, Commander of Twentieth Air Force issued a new directive that the high-altitude, daylight attacks be phased out and replaced by low-altitude, high-intensity incendiary raids at nighttime, being followed up with high explosive bombs once the targets were set ablaze.
• Saipan International Airport (SPN) currently has only 1 runway.

Facts about Gatwick Airport (LGW):

• Gatwick Airport handled 35,444,206 passengers last year.
• Because of Gatwick Airport's relatively low elevation of 203 feet, planes can take off or land at Gatwick 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.
• Gatwick Airport (LGW) has 2 runways.
• Despite the rapid expansion of BUA's scheduled activities at Gatwick, the airport was dominated by non-scheduled services into the 1980s.
• The furthest airport from Gatwick Airport (LGW) is Chatham Islands (CHT), which is located 11,901 miles (19,152 kilometers) away in Waitangi, Chatham Islands, New Zealand.
• The closest airport to Gatwick Airport (LGW) is Redhill Aerodrome (KRH), which is located only 5 miles (8 kilometers) NNE of LGW.
• On 6 July 1935, the aerodrome closed temporarily for renovations, which included the construction of the "Beehive", the world's first circular terminal building.
• In November 1948, the airport's owners warned that it might revert to private use by November 1949.
• From 1978 to 2008, many flights to and from the United States used Gatwick because of restrictions on the use of Heathrow implemented in the Bermuda II agreement between the UK and the US.US Airways, Gatwick's last remaining US carrier, ended service from the airport on 30 March 2013.
• Caledonian Airways purchased British United Airways in November 1970, and the combined airline was initially known as Caledonian/BUA.