Nonstop flight route between Essex (near London), England, United Kingdom and Kandahar, Afghanistan:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between London Stansted Airport (STN), Essex (near London), England, United Kingdom and Kabul International Airport (KDH), Kandahar, Afghanistan would travel a Great Circle distance of 3,528 miles (or 5,678 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 London Stansted Airport and Kabul International Airport, 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 London Stansted Airport and Kabul International Airport. 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 London Stansted Airport (STN):

• The closest airport to London Stansted Airport (STN) is MDPGA Wethersfield (WXF), which is located only 13 miles (21 kilometers) ENE of STN.
• The station was first allocated to the USAAF Eighth Air Force in August 1942 as a heavy bomber airfield.
• Stansted is a base for a number of major European low-cost carriers, being the largest base for low-cost airline Ryanair with over 100 destinations served by the airline.
• London Stansted Airport handled 17,852,393 passengers last year.
• Satellite Three has no air gates which suits the preference of Stansted's biggest airline Ryanair of boarding and disembarking with steps.
• London Stansted Airport (STN) currently has only 1 runway.
• The furthest airport from London Stansted Airport (STN) is Chatham Islands (CHT), which is located 11,858 miles (19,084 kilometers) away in Waitangi, Chatham Islands, New Zealand.
• Long-haul scheduled services commenced in the early 1990s when American Airlines operated a transatlantic service between Stansted and Chicago, however the route was unprofitable and was withdrawn in 1993.Continental Airlines also operated services in the late 1990s from Newark, but this service was stopped shortly after the 11 September 2001 attacks.
• In 2007 passenger numbers peaked at nearly 24 million, but then declined for 5 years and in 2012 the total was around 17.5 million.
• Because of London Stansted Airport's relatively low elevation of 348 feet, planes can take off or land at London Stansted 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 Kabul International Airport (KDH):

• Kabul International Airport (KDH) currently has only 1 runway.
• In addition to being known as "Kabul International Airport", other names for KDH include "Kandahar International Airport (Kandahar)" and "میدان هوایی بین المللی کندهار".
• A perimeter was quickly secured around the terminal building and airstrip, and initially all troops worked and lived in and around the main terminal building itself.
• During Operation Enduring Freedom in late 2001, Kandahar Airport was one of the first coalition bases established in Afghanistan.
• Kandahar International Airport is located 10 miles south-east of Kandahar City in Afghanistan.
• The furthest airport from Kabul International Airport (KDH) is Mataveri International Airport (IPC), which is nearly antipodal to Kabul International Airport (meaning Kabul International Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Mataveri International Airport), and is located 12,023 miles (19,349 kilometers) away in Easter Island, Chile.
• The closest airport to Kabul International Airport (KDH) is Tarin Kowt Airport (TII), which is located 76 miles (123 kilometers) N of KDH.
• The Afghan government has been slow in rebuilding the facility, the vast majority of it has been reclaimed from years of neglect and damage by Soviet and Taliban soldiers.
• The airport was built in the 1960s by the United States.
• The deployments in February 2006 brought Task Force Afghanistan in Kandahar to about 2,250 personnel.