Nonstop flight route between Kuusamo, Finland and Falkland Islands:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Kuusamo Airport (KAO), Kuusamo, Finland and RAF Mount Pleasant (MPN), Falkland Islands would travel a Great Circle distance of 9,332 miles (or 15,018 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 Kuusamo Airport and RAF Mount Pleasant, 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 Kuusamo Airport and RAF Mount Pleasant. 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 Kuusamo Airport (KAO):

• The closest airport to Kuusamo Airport (KAO) is Rovaniemi Airport (RVN), which is located 102 miles (165 kilometers) WNW of KAO.
• Kuusamo Airport (KAO) currently has only 1 runway.
• Because of Kuusamo Airport's relatively low elevation of 866 feet, planes can take off or land at Kuusamo 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.
• Kuusamo Airport handled 82,497 passengers last year.
• The furthest airport from Kuusamo Airport (KAO) is Chatham Islands (CHT), which is located 10,624 miles (17,098 kilometers) away in Waitangi, Chatham Islands, New Zealand.
• In addition to being known as "Kuusamo Airport", another name for KAO is "Kuusamon lentoasema".

Facts about RAF Mount Pleasant (MPN):

• The furthest airport from RAF Mount Pleasant (MPN) is Mohe Gulian Airport (OHE), which is nearly antipodal to RAF Mount Pleasant (meaning RAF Mount Pleasant is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Mohe Gulian Airport), and is located 12,353 miles (19,879 kilometers) away in Mohe, Heilongjiang, China.
• A flight of Westland Sea King helicopters for support and search and rescue has been located at Mount Pleasant since November 2007.
• Mount Pleasant was opened by Prince Andrew on 12 May 1985, becoming fully operational the following year.
• Flights are planned to Saint Helena when a new airport there opens in 2016.
• On 2 April 2012, an Uruguayan air company, Air Class Líneas Aéreas, gained permission from the Uruguayan Ministry of Defence to start a commercial flight to the Falkland Islands.
• After the surrender of the Argentine ground forces on the islands, the British still faced the problem of potential Argentine air attacks from Argentina, so an aircraft carrier had to remain on station to guard the islands with its squadron of Sea Harriers until the local airfield was prepared for jet aircraft.
• On 10 November 2011, it was announced that Prince William would be serving as a Sea King pilot on the station for six weeks during February and March 2012.
• Flights of Phantoms were rotated through the airfield until 1992 when they were replaced with Tornado F3s.
• The closest airport to RAF Mount Pleasant (MPN) is Port Stanley Airport (PSY), which is located 30 miles (49 kilometers) ENE of MPN.