The spacecraft on highly elliptic orbits fly over their apogee in the most part of their cycles, so this kind of orbit is usually applied in the satellite communication, the observation of celestial bodies and the exploration of space magnetic fields. The kinematics of multi-spacecraft formation is required to deal with the above space missions. Formulations of the relative motion on highly elliptic orbits are presented by kinematic method. On the basis of them, the necessary condition is given to maintain the long-term and close formations. The influence of relative orbital elements on the precision of this linear simplified formulation is discussed and on the dynamic characteristics of relative trajectories. The simulation results show that the formulations are more precise at the orbit apogee. If the relative orbital elements were selected properly, the design formation orbit would satisfy the requirements of the aforementioned missions.