Nonstop flight route between Fayetteville/Springdale, Arkansas, United States and Lakenheath, England, United Kingdom:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport (XNA), Fayetteville/Springdale, Arkansas, United States and RAF Lakenheath (LKZ), Lakenheath, England, United Kingdom would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,471 miles (or 7,195 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 Northwest Arkansas Regional 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 Northwest Arkansas Regional 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 Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport (XNA):

• The closest airport to Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport (XNA) is Smith Field (SLG), which is located only 12 miles (19 kilometers) WSW of XNA.
• Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport (XNA) has 2 runways.
• XNA opened in November 1998 as a replacement airport for commercial traffic previously served by Fayetteville's aging and inadequate Drake Field, which was undersized to serve the rapidly growing Northwest Arkansas region.
• As per Federal Aviation Administration records, the airport had 547,871 passenger boardings in calendar year 2008, 530,087 enplanements in 2009, and 549,195 in 2010.
• The furthest airport from Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport (XNA) is Margaret River Airport (MGV), which is located 10,773 miles (17,337 kilometers) away in Margaret River, Western Australia, Australia.
• Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport covers an area of 2,184 acres at an elevation of 1,288 feet above mean sea level.

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.
• RAF Lakenheath, and nearby, RAF Mildenhall, are the two main U.S.
• 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.
• Cold War tensions with the Soviet Union in Europe began as early as 1946.
• The increasing tension of the Cold War lead to a re-evaluation of these deployments, and by 1953 SAC bombers began to move its heavy bomb groups further west, behind RAF fighter forces, to RAF Brize Norton, RAF Greenham Common, RAF Upper Heyford and RAF Fairford, while its shorter-range B-47 were sent to East Anglia.
• In 1940, the Air Ministry selected Lakenheath as an alternative for RAF Mildenhall and used it as a decoy airfield.
• In April 1947, RAF Bomber Command returned to Lakenheath and had the runways repaired, resurfaced, and readied for operations by May 1948.
• By 1950, Lakenheath was one of three main operating bases for the U.S.