Nonstop flight route between Upington, South Africa and Fairbanks, Alaska, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Upington Airport (UTN), Upington, South Africa and Eielson Air Force Base (EIL), Fairbanks, Alaska, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 9,880 miles (or 15,900 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 Upington Airport and Eielson Air Force Base, 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 Upington Airport and Eielson Air Force Base. 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 Upington Airport (UTN):

• Planning is also under way at Upington Airport to construct a facility for the long-term parking of mothballed aircraft.
• The Concorde did flight testing at Upington Airport in June 1976.
• The furthest airport from Upington Airport (UTN) is Princeville Airport (HPV), which is nearly antipodal to Upington Airport (meaning Upington Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Princeville Airport), and is located 12,007 miles (19,323 kilometers) away in Hanalei, Hawaii, United States.
• Upington Airport (UTN) has 3 runways.
• The closest airport to Upington Airport (UTN) is Johan Pienaar Airport (KMH), which is located 147 miles (236 kilometers) ENE of UTN.
• With the fall of the Portuguese regime in Angola, South African Airways lost its landing rights in Luanda.
• Upington Airport's uncommonly long runway and its strategically advantageous location, close to South Africa's northern borders, makes it ideally placed to serve the African continent.

Facts about Eielson Air Force Base (EIL):

• A month later, contractors and civilian crews from Ladd Field started laying out the new airfield.
• In addition to being known as "Eielson Air Force Base", another name for EIL is "Eielson AFB".
• The closest airport to Eielson Air Force Base (EIL) is Ladd Army Airfield (FBK), which is located only 19 miles (31 kilometers) NW of EIL.
• The furthest airport from Eielson Air Force Base (EIL) is Port Elizabeth International Airport (PLZ), which is located 10,295 miles (16,568 kilometers) away in Port Elizabeth, South Africa.
• The 720th Fighter-Bomber Squadron, equipped with F-86 Sabres, was deployed to Eielson during 1954–55.
• The 6th SW remained at Eielson AFB until 1992.
• Taken off deployment status in 2007 as a result of BRAC 2005, today the primary mission of the base is to support Red Flag-Alaska, a series of Pacific Air Forces commander-directed field training exercises for U.S.