Nonstop flight route between King Salmon, Alaska, United States and St Athan, Wales, United Kingdom:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between King Salmon Airport (AKN), King Salmon, Alaska, United States and MoD St Athan (DGX), St Athan, Wales, United Kingdom would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,683 miles (or 7,537 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 King Salmon 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 King Salmon 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 King Salmon Airport (AKN):

• In addition to being known as "King Salmon Airport", other names for AKN include "(former Naknek Air Force Base)" and "(former Naknek Army Airfield)".
• Because of King Salmon Airport's relatively low elevation of 73 feet, planes can take off or land at King Salmon 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.
• On June 30, 1985, Douglas C-47B N168Z of Northern Peninsula Fisheries was substantially damaged at King Salmon when both engines failed on approach while the aircraft was on an executive flight from Homer Airport, Alaska.
• The furthest airport from King Salmon Airport (AKN) is George Airport (GRJ), which is located 10,732 miles (17,271 kilometers) away in George, South Africa.
• King Salmon Airport covers an area of 5,277 acres at an elevation of 73 feet above mean sea level.
• King Salmon Airport (AKN) has 3 runways.
• The closest airport to King Salmon Airport (AKN) is South Naknek Airport (WSN), which is located only 13 miles (21 kilometers) W of AKN.

Facts about MoD St Athan (DGX):

• 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 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.
• 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.
• The MOD continued to negotiate the project with the Metrix Consortium, but the price rose several times, reaching £14 billion in mid-2009.
• MoD St Athan (DGX) currently has only 1 runway.
• During the war a dummy airfield was built using wood and cardboard a few miles west of the original airfield and successful efforts were made to hide the proper field.
• The closest airport to MoD St Athan (DGX) is Cardiff Airport (CWL), which is located only 4 miles (6 kilometers) E of DGX.
• In March 2004, however, DARA announced the loss of 550 jobs at St Athan as part of streamlining to make DARA more efficient and better able to compete with the private sector for lucrative aircraft repair contracts, but also because they lost out to a direct RAF bid for a contract to upgrade the air force's fleet of ageing Harrier jump jet aircraft.