Nonstop flight route between Shemya, Alaska, United States and Bangor, Maine, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Eareckson Air Station (SYA), Shemya, Alaska, United States and Bangor International Airport (BGR), Bangor, Maine, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,739 miles (or 7,626 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 Eareckson Air Station and Bangor International 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 Eareckson Air Station and Bangor International 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 Eareckson Air Station (SYA):

• By the end of 1944, several hundred American airmen had been interned by the Russians after their crippled aircraft landed on Petropavlovsk on the Kamchatka Peninsula.
• Shemya also continued to support the Great Circle Route for MATS and later Military Airlift Command transports between Japan and Elmendorf AFB.
• The closest airport to Eareckson Air Station (SYA) is Casco Cove Coast Guard Station (ATU), which is located 40 miles (65 kilometers) WNW of SYA.
• Because of Eareckson Air Station's relatively low elevation of 97 feet, planes can take off or land at Eareckson Air Station 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.
• In addition to being known as "Eareckson Air Station", other names for SYA include "Shemya Air Force Base", "Shemya Army Airfield" and "  ".
• Eareckson Air Station (SYA) currently has only 1 runway.
• With the successful completion of the Aleutian Campaign in August 1943, Eleventh Air Force came within striking distance of the Japanese Kurile Islands, the northernmost being 750 miles to the south-southwest of Shemya.
• The spring of 1944 brought improving weather and the B-24s and PV-1s to fly more missions over the Kuriles.
• In 1966 the Air Defense Command 9th Air Division assumed jurisdiction of the base.
• The furthest airport from Eareckson Air Station (SYA) is Cape Town International Airport (CPT), which is located 10,668 miles (17,168 kilometers) away in Cape Town, South Africa.

Facts about Bangor International Airport (BGR):

• It was designated by NASA as an emergency landing location for the Space Shuttle.
• The closest airport to Bangor International Airport (BGR) is Old Town Municipal Airport (OLD), which is located only 13 miles (20 kilometers) NE of BGR.
• Bangor International Airport began as Godfrey Field in the 1920s, on land owned by local attorney Edward Rawson Godfrey.
• Because of Bangor International Airport's relatively low elevation of 192 feet, planes can take off or land at Bangor 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.
• In the 1950s and 1960s, Bangor was a destination for Northeast Airlines before its merger into Delta.
• In 2003, Delta Air Lines added daily connection flights to Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky International Airport and Boston Logan International Airport.
• Decades ago, British Airways offered regular service from Bangor.
• The furthest airport from Bangor International Airport (BGR) is Albany Airport (ALH), which is located 11,670 miles (18,782 kilometers) away in Albany, Western Australia, Australia.
• Bangor International Airport (BGR) currently has only 1 runway.
• In 1977, Erwin Kreuz, a 50-year-old West German brewery worker on his way to San Francisco, stepped off a refueling charter flight in the mistaken belief that he had reached his destination.
• Marketing efforts by airport officials drove annual passengers from 369,000 in 2001 past 480,000 in 2005.