Nonstop flight route between Balikpapan, East Kalimantan and Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Sultan Aji Muhamad Sulaiman Airport (BPN), Balikpapan, East Kalimantan and Cardiff Airport (CWL), Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom would travel a Great Circle distance of 7,556 miles (or 12,160 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 Sultan Aji Muhamad Sulaiman Airport and Cardiff Airport, 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 Sultan Aji Muhamad Sulaiman Airport and Cardiff Airport. 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 Sultan Aji Muhamad Sulaiman Airport (BPN):

• Sultan Aji Muhamad Sulaiman Airport is the 6th busiest airport in Indonesia and the busiest airport in Kalimantan and Borneo with 7.1 million passenger traffic in 2013.
• Sultan Aji Muhamad Sulaiman Airport (BPN) currently has only 1 runway.
• Sultan Aji Muhamad Sulaiman Airport had been renovated twice from 1991 to 1997.
• Sultan Aji Muhamad Sulaiman Airport handled 5,680,961 passengers last year.
• The furthest airport from Sultan Aji Muhamad Sulaiman Airport (BPN) is Barcelos Airport (BAZ), which is nearly antipodal to Sultan Aji Muhamad Sulaiman Airport (meaning Sultan Aji Muhamad Sulaiman Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Barcelos Airport), and is located 12,281 miles (19,764 kilometers) away in Barcelos, Amazonas, Brazil.
• Because of Sultan Aji Muhamad Sulaiman Airport's relatively low elevation of 12 feet, planes can take off or land at Sultan Aji Muhamad Sulaiman 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 closest airport to Sultan Aji Muhamad Sulaiman Airport (BPN) is Bontang Airport (BXT), which is located 104 miles (168 kilometers) NNE of BPN.

Facts about Cardiff Airport (CWL):

• Because of Cardiff Airport's relatively low elevation of 220 feet, planes can take off or land at Cardiff 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 Cardiff Airport (CWL) is Dunedin International Airport (DUD), which is located 11,958 miles (19,244 kilometers) away in Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand.
• On 1 April 1965 the Ministry of Aviation handed over the airport to Glamorgan County Council and it was renamed Glamorgan Airport.
• The history of the airport extends back to the early 1940s, when the Air Ministry requisitioned land in the rural Vale of Glamorgan to set up a wartime satellite aerodrome and training base, named RAF Rhoose, for Royal Air Force Spitfire pilots.
• Following a survey conducted by the airport operator in 2008 as part of a campaign to attract additional business routes to the airport, popular destinations such as Aberdeen, Frankfurt, Düsseldorf, Brussels and Scandinavian cities were identified as lacking a current link.
• Cardiff Airport handled 1,072,062 passengers last year.
• The closest airport to Cardiff Airport (CWL) is MoD St Athan (DGX), which is located only 4 miles (6 kilometers) W of CWL.
• In 2007 a new airline was mooted as a new home carrier at the airport.
• On 15 May 2014 it was announced that Ryanair would return to the airport after an absence of 8 years by operating a service to Tenerife starting on 30 October the same year.
• Cardiff Airport (CWL) currently has only 1 runway.
• The man who decided Rhoose could be the site of a new Airport was David Rees-Williams a Bridgend-born solicitor who had served as a Lieutenant-Colonel in the Royal Artillery during the WW2 and who.
• In addition to being known as "Cardiff Airport", another name for CWL is "Maes Awyr Caerdydd".
• Also in 1952 Aer Lingus started a service to Dublin.