Nonstop flight route between Xining, Qinghai, China and Bury St. Edmunds, England, United Kingdom:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Xining Caojiabao Airport (XNN), Xining, Qinghai, China and RAF Honington USAAF Station 375 (BEQ), Bury St. Edmunds, England, United Kingdom would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,696 miles (or 7,557 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 Xining Caojiabao Airport and RAF Honington USAAF Station 375, 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 Xining Caojiabao Airport and RAF Honington USAAF Station 375. 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 Xining Caojiabao Airport (XNN):

• Xining Caojiabao Airport handled 2,030,378 passengers last year.
• Because of Xining Caojiabao Airport's high elevation of 7,119 feet, planes must typically fly at a faster airspeed in order to takeoff or land at XNN. Combined with a high temperature, this could make XNN a "Hot & High" airport, where the air density is lower than it would otherwise be at sea level.
• Xining Caojiabao Airport (XNN) currently has only 1 runway.
• The furthest airport from Xining Caojiabao Airport (XNN) is Carriel Sur International Airport (CCP), which is nearly antipodal to Xining Caojiabao Airport (meaning Xining Caojiabao Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Carriel Sur International Airport), and is located 12,165 miles (19,578 kilometers) away in Concepción, Bío Bío Region, Chile.
• In addition to being known as "Xining Caojiabao Airport", other names for XNN include "西宁曹家堡机场" and "Xīníng Cáojiābǎo Jīchǎng".
• The closest airport to Xining Caojiabao Airport (XNN) is Lanzhou Zhongchuan Airport (LHW), which is located 88 miles (141 kilometers) E of XNN.

Facts about RAF Honington USAAF Station 375 (BEQ):

• The closest airport to RAF Honington USAAF Station 375 (BEQ) is RAF Lakenheath (LKZ), which is located only 10 miles (16 kilometers) WNW of BEQ.
• English Electric Canberra bomber squadrons, 10, XV, 44, and 57 were based at RAF Honington from February 1955 to 1957.
• The furthest airport from RAF Honington USAAF Station 375 (BEQ) is Chatham Islands (CHT), which is located 11,834 miles (19,044 kilometers) away in Waitangi, Chatham Islands, New Zealand.
• Besides the air depot, Honington also housed an operational fighter unit when the 364th Fighter Group took up residence at Honington in February 1944, arriving from Santa Maria AAF, California.
• The Luftwaffe made several attacks on the airfield one of which killed about twenty airmen who were crossing the old parade ground on their way to tea.
• Honington was the last USAAF station to be returned to the RAF.
• RAF Honington is also now home to 611 Volunteer Gliding Squadron due to the closure of RAF Watton in April 2012, requiring their conversion to the Grob 109B Vigilant motor glider.