Nonstop flight route between Anaa, Tuamotus, French Polynesia and St Athan, Wales, United Kingdom:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Anaa Airport (AAA), Anaa, Tuamotus, French Polynesia and MoD St Athan (DGX), St Athan, Wales, United Kingdom would travel a Great Circle distance of 9,303 miles (or 14,972 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 Anaa Airport and MoD St Athan, 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 Anaa Airport and MoD St Athan. 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 Anaa Airport (AAA):

• The closest airport to Anaa Airport (AAA) is Fakarava Airport (FAV), which is located 90 miles (145 kilometers) N of AAA.
• In addition to being known as "Anaa Airport", another name for AAA is "Aérodrome de Anna".
• Anaa Airport (AAA) currently has only 1 runway.
• Because of Anaa Airport's relatively low elevation of 10 feet, planes can take off or land at Anaa 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.
• The furthest airport from Anaa Airport (AAA) is Atbara Airport (ATB), which is nearly antipodal to Anaa Airport (meaning Anaa Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Atbara Airport), and is located 12,399 miles (19,954 kilometers) away in Atbara, Sudan.

Facts about MoD St Athan (DGX):

• The furthest airport from MoD St Athan (DGX) is Dunedin International Airport (DUD), which is located 11,960 miles (19,248 kilometers) away in Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand.
• MoD St Athan (DGX) currently has only 1 runway.
• The closest airport to MoD St Athan (DGX) is Cardiff Airport (CWL), which is located only 4 miles (6 kilometers) E of DGX.
• The MOD later decided that DARA's 'Fast Jets' and 'Engines' businesses would close by April 2007, although the 'Large Aircraft' business would continue and, on 14 April 2005, the Project Red Dragon super-hangar opened and DARA moved its VC10 operations from its existing 'Twin Peaks' hangar into the new facility.
• Because of MoD St Athan's relatively low elevation of 163 feet, planes can take off or land at MoD St Athan 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.
• The base has been home to the RAF No.
• In March 2003 it was confirmed that a new hi-tech maintenance centre would be built, creating 3,300 jobs.
• On 26 August 1993 an ATC civilian instructor was seriously injured and the RAF Volunteer Reserve pilot, Group Captain Roger Sweatman, was killed when their Chipmunk trainer, on an air experience flight, crashed after encountering difficulties during a simulated emergency low-height manoeuvre on take-off.
• The station officially opened as RAF St Athan on 1 September 1938 and the first unit to take up residence was No 4 School of Technical Training.