Nonstop flight route between Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia and Falkland Islands:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Alice Springs Airport (ASP), Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia and RAF Mount Pleasant (MPN), Falkland Islands would travel a Great Circle distance of 7,158 miles (or 11,520 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 Alice Springs 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 Alice Springs 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 Alice Springs Airport (ASP):

• Alice Springs Airport (ASP) has 2 runways.
• During 2010–11 a total of 640,519 domestic passengers passed through Alice Springs Airport making it the 18th busiest in Australia.
• Alice Springs Airport handled 598,749 passengers last year.
• The facility is to be operated by Asia Pacific Aircraft Storage Ltd which chose Alice Springs because its dry, arid climate is perfect for aircraft storage and preservation.
• The closest airport to Alice Springs Airport (ASP) is Cowra Airport (CWT), which is located 44 miles (71 kilometers) E of ASP.
• Alice Springs Airport is a regional airport 7 nautical miles south of Alice Springs, Northern Territory.
• The furthest airport from Alice Springs Airport (ASP) is Barbuda Codrington Airport (BBQ), which is located 11,336 miles (18,243 kilometers) away in Codrington, Barbuda, Antigua and Barbuda.
• In 1958 it officially became Alice Springs Airport.

Facts about RAF Mount Pleasant (MPN):

• Using the IATA airport code MPN, RAF Mount Pleasant also acts as the Falkland Islands' only international airport, along with its military role.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 33 Engineer Regiment provides constant support and is part of the Joint Service Falkland Islands Detachment which consists of RAF and RLC EOD teams.