Nonstop flight route between Pituffik, Greenland and Flores Island, Azores, Portugal:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Thule Air Base (THU), Pituffik, Greenland and Flores Airport (FLW), Flores Island, Azores, Portugal would travel a Great Circle distance of 2,797 miles (or 4,502 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 Thule Air Base and Flores 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 Thule Air Base and Flores 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 Thule Air Base (THU):

• Thule is the location where the fastest recorded sea level surface wind speed in the world was measured when a peak speed of 333 kilometres per hour was recorded on 8 March 1972 prior to the instrument's destruction.
• Thule Air Base or Thule Air Base/Pituffik Airport, is the United States Air Force's northernmost base, located 1,207 km north of the Arctic Circle and 1,524 km from the North Pole on the northwest side of the island of Greenland.
• In 1957 construction began on 4 Nike Missile sites around the base, and they and their radar systems were operational by the end of 1958.
• The closest airport to Thule Air Base (THU) is Savissivik Heliport (SVR), which is located 69 miles (111 kilometers) ESE of THU.
• The furthest airport from Thule Air Base (THU) is Hobart International Airport (HBA), which is located 9,883 miles (15,905 kilometers) away in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia.
• Thule AB was constructed in secret under the code name Operation Blue Jay, but the project was made public in September 1952.
• Knud Rasmussen was the first to recognize the Pituffik plain as ideal for an airport.
• In addition to being known as "Thule Air Base", another name for THU is "Thule AB".

Facts about Flores Airport (FLW):

• The furthest airport from Flores Airport (FLW) is Flinders Island Airport (FLS), which is nearly antipodal to Flores Airport (meaning Flores Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Flinders Island Airport), and is located 12,373 miles (19,912 kilometers) away in Flinders Island, Tasmania, Australia.
• The first need for an airport/airfield on the island of Flores was recognized by the Marquis Francesco de Pinedo, colonel of the Italian Air Force, who was forced to land 200 km from the island of Flores, during his attempt to reach Newfoundland.
• On 11 January 2013, a tender was issued by ANA Aeroportos to improve the accessbility within the airport, with installation of lifts, escalators and mechanical walkways, to be installed within the intervening five years.
• The closest airport to Flores Airport (FLW) is Corvo Airport (CVU), which is located only 15 miles (24 kilometers) N of FLW.
• Flores Airport handled 45,122 passengers last year.
• In addition to being known as "Flores Airport", another name for FLW is "Aeroporto das Flores".
• Flores Airport is a regional airport on the island of Flores in the Portuguese archipelago of the Azores.
• Because of Flores Airport's relatively low elevation of 108 feet, planes can take off or land at Flores 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.
• But, it was only in 1972 that an airport was inaugurated on the island of Flores.
• Flores Airport (FLW) currently has only 1 runway.