Nonstop flight route between Cayenne, French Guiana and Falkland Islands:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Cayenne – Félix Eboué Airport (CAY), Cayenne, French Guiana and RAF Mount Pleasant (MPN), Falkland Islands would travel a Great Circle distance of 3,930 miles (or 6,325 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 Cayenne – Félix Eboué 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 Cayenne – Félix Eboué 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 Cayenne – Félix Eboué Airport (CAY):

• The closest airport to Cayenne – Félix Eboué Airport (CAY) is Saül Airport (XAU), which is located 102 miles (163 kilometers) SW of CAY.
• The name of Rochambeau creates controversy because of the bad reputation of the son of the dedicatee of the airport, Donatien-Marie-Joseph de Vimeur, vicomte de Rochambeau who during the Saint-Domingue expedition harshly repressed the Haitian Revolution.
• The furthest airport from Cayenne – Félix Eboué Airport (CAY) is Pattimura Airport (PTA) (AMQ), which is nearly antipodal to Cayenne – Félix Eboué Airport (meaning Cayenne – Félix Eboué Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Pattimura Airport (PTA)), and is located 12,354 miles (19,882 kilometers) away in Ambon, Indonesia.
• Because of Cayenne – Félix Eboué Airport's relatively low elevation of 24 feet, planes can take off or land at Cayenne – Félix Eboué 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.
• Cayenne – Félix Eboué Airport (CAY) currently has only 1 runway.
• In 2009, passenger traffic totaled 400,025 passengers compared to 2008 with 385,142 passengers.
• In addition to being known as "Cayenne – Félix Eboué Airport", another name for CAY is "Aéroport de Cayenne – Félix Eboué".

Facts about RAF Mount Pleasant (MPN):

• Flights are planned to Saint Helena when a new airport there opens in 2016.
• 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.
• There is also a Joint Communications Unit providing the electronic warfare and command and control systems for the Royal Navy, British Army and Royal Air Force.
• 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.
• Using the IATA airport code MPN, RAF Mount Pleasant also acts as the Falkland Islands' only international airport, along with its military role.
• The British government felt that Stanley airfield was not the best option for a large, permanent station and decided to construct a new RAF station and make it the centrepiece of considerably strengthened air defences for the Falkland Islands, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands.
• Additionally, every Saturday LAN Airlines operates a scheduled commercial flight to Presidente Carlos Ibáñez del Campo International Airport of the Punta Arenas city in southern Chile, stopping at Río Gallegos, Argentina once a month.
• On 2 March 2012, the Argentinian President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner called for Aerolineas Argentinas flights to Buenos Aires to replace LAN Airlines flights to Chile.