Nonstop flight route between Tauranga, New Zealand and Lakenheath, England, United Kingdom:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Tauranga Airport (TRG), Tauranga, New Zealand and RAF Lakenheath (LKZ), Lakenheath, England, United Kingdom would travel a Great Circle distance of 11,397 miles (or 18,342 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 Tauranga Airport and RAF Lakenheath, 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 Tauranga Airport and RAF Lakenheath. 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 Tauranga Airport (TRG):

• Because of Tauranga Airport's relatively low elevation of 13 feet, planes can take off or land at Tauranga 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 furthest airport from Tauranga Airport (TRG) is Granada Airport (GRX), which is nearly antipodal to Tauranga Airport (meaning Tauranga Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Granada Airport), and is located 12,403 miles (19,961 kilometers) away in Granada, Spain.
• The airport was opened in 1936.
• In 2010 the airport started an expansion of the terminal that took 6 months.
• Because of the intensive growth of the Tauranga region, the airport has now been hemmed in by residential and industrial development.
• Palmerston North Airport, Air New Zealand Link and Tauranga Airport are in discussions to commence flights between Tauranga and Palmerston North
• The closest airport to Tauranga Airport (TRG) is Matamata Airport (MTA), which is located 25 miles (41 kilometers) W of TRG.
• Tauranga Airport (TRG) has 4 runways.
• Tauranga airport is the fifth busiest airport in New Zealand in terms of aircraft movements, with 86,935 movements during 2010.

Facts about RAF Lakenheath (LKZ):

• The closest airport to RAF Lakenheath (LKZ) is RAF Mildenhall (MHZ), which is located only 4 miles (7 kilometers) SW of LKZ.
• On 27 November 1948, operational control of RAF Lakenheath was transferred from the Royal Air Force to USAFE.
• The furthest airport from RAF Lakenheath (LKZ) is Chatham Islands (CHT), which is located 11,827 miles (19,034 kilometers) away in Waitangi, Chatham Islands, New Zealand.
• In 1941, hard runways were put down with the main runway, 04/22, being 2,000 yards, and the subsidiaries, 12/30 at 1,300 yards and 16/34 at 1,400 yards.
• The work entailed removal of the existing runways and laying new ones comprising 12 inches of high-grade concrete.
• A near nuclear accident occurred on 27 July 1956 – when a B-47 bomber crashed into a storage igloo at Lakenheath containing three MK-6 nuclear weapons while on a routine training mission.