Nonstop flight route between Pituffik, Greenland and Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Thule Air Base (THU), Pituffik, Greenland and Tenerife-South Airport (TFS), Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain would travel a Great Circle distance of 3,752 miles (or 6,039 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 Tenerife-South 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 Tenerife-South 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):

• In addition to being known as "Thule Air Base", another name for THU is "Thule AB".
• 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.
• After the German occupation of Denmark on 9 April 1940, Henrik Kauffmann Danish Ambassador to the United States, made an agreement "In the name of the king" with the United States authorizing the United States to defend the Danish colonies on Greenland from German aggression - this agreement faced Kaufmann with a charge of high treason.
• The closest airport to Thule Air Base (THU) is Savissivik Heliport (SVR), which is located 69 miles (111 kilometers) ESE of THU.
• A cluster of huts known as Pituffik stood on the wide plain where the base was built in 1951.
• Originally established as a Strategic Air Command installation, Thule would periodically serve as a dispersal base for B-36 Peacemaker and B-47 Stratojet aircraft during the 1950s, as well as providing an ideal site to test the operability and maintainability of these weapon systems in extreme cold weather.
• In the winter of 1956/57 three KC-97 tankers and alternately one of two RB-47H aircraft made polar flights to inspect Soviet defenses.
• In 1818, Sir John Ross’s expedition made first contact with nomadic Polar Eskimos in the area.
• Thule Air Base is also home to the 821st Air Base Group and is responsible for air base support within the Thule Defense Area for the multinational population of "Team Thule." The base hosts the 12th Space Warning Squadron which operates a Ballistic Missile Early Warning System designed to detect and track ICBMs launched against North America.
• In 1961, a Ballistic Missile Early Warning System radar was constructed at "J-Site," 21 km northeast of main base.
• Thule Air Base has served as the regional hub for nearby installations, including Cape Atholl, Camp Century, Camp TUTO, Sites 1 and 2, P-Mountain, J-Site, North and South Mountains, and a research rocket firing site.

Facts about Tenerife-South Airport (TFS):

• Because of Tenerife-South Airport's relatively low elevation of 209 feet, planes can take off or land at Tenerife-South 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.
• Tenerife South handled over 8.5 million passengers in 2012.
• In 1977, the control tower, terminal building and taxiways were completed before the world's worst aviation accident occurred at Tenerife North Airport in March.
• The closest airport to Tenerife-South Airport (TFS) is Tenerife North Airport (TFN), which is located 33 miles (54 kilometers) NNE of TFS.
• Tenerife-South Airport handled 8,701,983 passengers last year.
• Tenerife-South Airport (TFS) currently has only 1 runway.
• In addition to being known as "Tenerife-South Airport", other names for TFS include "Aeropuerto de Tenerife Sur" and "Tenerife Sur/Reina Sofía Airport".
• The furthest airport from Tenerife-South Airport (TFS) is Norfolk Island Airport (NLK), which is nearly antipodal to Tenerife-South Airport (meaning Tenerife-South Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Norfolk Island Airport), and is located 12,154 miles (19,561 kilometers) away in Norfolk Island, Australia.