Nonstop flight route between Vestmannaeyjar, Iceland and Shemya, Alaska, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Vestmannaeyjar Airport (VEY), Vestmannaeyjar, Iceland and Eareckson Air Station (SYA), Shemya, Alaska, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,375 miles (or 7,041 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 Vestmannaeyjar Airport and Eareckson Air Station, 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 Vestmannaeyjar Airport and Eareckson Air Station. 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 Vestmannaeyjar Airport (VEY):

• In addition to being known as "Vestmannaeyjar Airport", another name for VEY is "Vestmannaeyjaflugvöllur".
• Because of Vestmannaeyjar Airport's relatively low elevation of 326 feet, planes can take off or land at Vestmannaeyjar 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 closest airport to Vestmannaeyjar Airport (VEY) is Reykjavík Airport (RKV), which is located 70 miles (113 kilometers) NW of VEY.
• Vestmannaeyjar Airport (VEY) has 2 runways.
• The furthest airport from Vestmannaeyjar Airport (VEY) is Ryan's Creek Aerodrome (SZS), which is located 11,250 miles (18,106 kilometers) away in Stewart Island, New Zealand.

Facts about Eareckson Air Station (SYA):

• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• Jurisdiction of Shemya AFB was transferred from the Aerospace Defense Command to the Strategic Air Command when the former was inactivated on 1 October 1979.
• Eareckson Air Station (SYA) currently has only 1 runway.
• 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.
• Shemya also continued to support the Great Circle Route for MATS and later Military Airlift Command transports between Japan and Elmendorf AFB.
• In addition to being known as "Eareckson Air Station", other names for SYA include "Shemya Air Force Base", "Shemya Army Airfield" and "  ".
• 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.