Nonstop flight route between Chiang Rai, Thailand and St Athan, Wales, United Kingdom:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Chiang Rai International Airport (CEI), Chiang Rai, Thailand and MoD St Athan (DGX), St Athan, Wales, United Kingdom would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,696 miles (or 9,167 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 Chiang Rai International 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 Chiang Rai International 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 Chiang Rai International Airport (CEI):

• The airport is located about 10 km from the city centre.
• The closest airport to Chiang Rai International Airport (CEI) is Tachilek Airport (THL), which is located 37 miles (59 kilometers) N of CEI.
• The furthest airport from Chiang Rai International Airport (CEI) is Maria Reiche Neuman Airport (NZC), which is located 11,947 miles (19,227 kilometers) away in Nazca, Ica Region, Peru.
• In addition to being known as "Chiang Rai International Airport", another name for CEI is "ท่าอากาศยานแม่ฟ้าหลวง เชียงราย".
• Chiang Rai International Airport handled 1,053,863 passengers last year.
• The airport handles over 800,000 passengers, 5,800 aircraft movements and 3,700 tons of cargo.
• Chiang Rai International Airport (CEI) currently has only 1 runway.

Facts about MoD St Athan (DGX):

• The training to be carried out at St Athan was to be specialist phase 2 and phase 3 engineering courses of the Royal Navy, Army and Royal Air Force.
• 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.
• In March 2003 it was confirmed that a new hi-tech maintenance centre would be built, creating 3,300 jobs.
• MoD St Athan (DGX) currently has only 1 runway.
• 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.
• Just before 1100 GMT on 11 February 2009, two Grob Tutor aircraft flying out of St Athan were involved in a mid-air collision in which two Air Training Corps cadets and their instructors, both RAF pilots, died.
• 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 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.