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

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Whangarei Airport (WRE), Whangarei, New Zealand and RAF Lakenheath (LKZ), Lakenheath, England, United Kingdom would travel a Great Circle distance of 11,248 miles (or 18,102 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 Whangarei 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 Whangarei 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 Whangarei Airport (WRE):

• Whangarei has several scheduled flight destinations, the furthest away being Wellington at 626 km.
• Private jets are also catered for when they arrive about twice a year, as well as larger group charters which are fairly common.
• On the 1st of October 2013, thanks to Northpower, the airport had installed free wifi available to everyone.
• The Whangarei District Council approved an upgrade of the main runway and this was completed in April 2009.
• Whangarei Airport (WRE) has 2 runways.
• The closest airport to Whangarei Airport (WRE) is Dargaville Aerodrome (DGR), which is located 29 miles (47 kilometers) WSW of WRE.
• The furthest airport from Whangarei Airport (WRE) is Tangier Ibn Battouta Airport (TNG), which is nearly antipodal to Whangarei Airport (meaning Whangarei Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Tangier Ibn Battouta Airport), and is located 12,421 miles (19,989 kilometers) away in Tangier, Morocco.
• Ansett went into liquidation in 2001, and this resulted in Air New Zealand's subsidary Eagle Airways being the only major airline operating out of the airport.
• Because of Whangarei Airport's relatively low elevation of 133 feet, planes can take off or land at Whangarei 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.

Facts about RAF Lakenheath (LKZ):

• Many SAC Squadrons had aircraft at RAF Lakenheath on a transitotry basis without any recorded deployment to the base.
• 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.
• The closest airport to RAF Lakenheath (LKZ) is RAF Mildenhall (MHZ), which is located only 4 miles (7 kilometers) SW of LKZ.
• Cold War tensions with the Soviet Union in Europe began as early as 1946.
• Aircraft of the 48th FW carry the tail code "LN".
• By the time construction ended the war with Germany was over and RAF Lakenheath was put on a care and maintenance status.
• On 1 May 1951, Lakenheath was transferred from USAFE to SAC, and placed under the 3909th Air Base Group.