Nonstop flight route between Essex (near London), England, United Kingdom and Carrillo, Costa Rica:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between London Stansted Airport (STN), Essex (near London), England, United Kingdom and Playa Sámara/Carrillo Airport (RIK), Carrillo, Costa Rica would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,501 miles (or 8,853 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 London Stansted Airport and Playa Sámara/Carrillo 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 London Stansted Airport and Playa Sámara/Carrillo 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 London Stansted Airport (STN):

• From 1997 to 2007 Stansted saw rapid expansion of passenger numbers on the back of the boom in low cost air travel, peaking at 24 million passengers in the 12 months to October 2007, but passenger numbers declined for the subsequent five years to 2012.
• London Stansted Airport (STN) currently has only 1 runway.
• Stansted is the newest passenger airport of all the main London airports.
• London Stansted Airport is an international airport located at Stansted Mountfitchet in the local government district of Uttlesford in Essex, 48 km northeast of Central London and 1.5 km from the Hertfordshire border.
• Because of London Stansted Airport's relatively low elevation of 348 feet, planes can take off or land at London Stansted 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 terminal building was designed by Foster Associates with input from the structural engineer Peter Rice and features a "floating" roof, supported by a space frame of inverted-pyramid roof trusses, creating the impression of a stylised swan in flight.
• The closest airport to London Stansted Airport (STN) is MDPGA Wethersfield (WXF), which is located only 13 miles (21 kilometers) ENE of STN.
• The Competition Commission ruled in March 2009 that BAA should sell Gatwick and Stansted Airports within two years.
• London Stansted Airport handled 17,852,393 passengers last year.
• The station was first allocated to the USAAF Eighth Air Force in August 1942 as a heavy bomber airfield.
• Long haul transatlantic operations made a return to Stansted in June 2010, when Sun Country Airlines announced a seasonal weekly service from Stansted to Minneapolis.
• Stansted is a base for a number of major European low-cost carriers, being the largest base for low-cost airline Ryanair with over 100 destinations served by the airline.
• The furthest airport from London Stansted Airport (STN) is Chatham Islands (CHT), which is located 11,858 miles (19,084 kilometers) away in Waitangi, Chatham Islands, New Zealand.

Facts about Playa Sámara/Carrillo Airport (RIK):

• Playa Sámara/Carrillo Airport (RIK) currently has only 1 runway.
• In addition to being known as "Playa Sámara/Carrillo Airport", another name for RIK is "RIK[1]".
• The furthest airport from Playa Sámara/Carrillo Airport (RIK) is Cocos (Keeling) Island Airport (CCK), which is nearly antipodal to Playa Sámara/Carrillo Airport (meaning Playa Sámara/Carrillo Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Cocos (Keeling) Island Airport), and is located 12,212 miles (19,654 kilometers) away in Cocos Islands, Australia.
• Because of Playa Sámara/Carrillo Airport's relatively low elevation of 7 feet, planes can take off or land at Playa Sámara/Carrillo 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 Playa Sámara/Carrillo Airport (RIK) is Punta Islita Airport (PBP), which is located only 8 miles (13 kilometers) E of RIK.