Nonstop flight route between Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom and Aachen, Germany:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Cardiff Airport (CWL), Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom and Merzbrück Airfield (AAH), Aachen, Germany would travel a Great Circle distance of 415 miles (or 668 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 relatively short distance between Cardiff Airport and Merzbrück Airfield, the route shown on this map most likely still appears to be a straight line.

Departure Airport Information:

Arrival Airport Information:

Facts about Cardiff Airport (CWL):

• Cardiff Airport handled 1,072,062 passengers last year.
• In early December 2013 Flybe announced it would drop its Paris and Glasgow services with effect from January 2014.
• 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 2010 accounts quoted the net worth of Cardiff Airport Ltd to be £34,311,000.
• 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.
• The airport is not only the main maintenance base for British Airways but also home to a variety of aerospace-oriented firms and colleges, and therefore a major contributor to the economic development of the region.
• However, it emerged that the Airport had applied for £5 million of payments from the Welsh Assembly Government to deal with unspecified development at the terminal.
• In addition to being known as "Cardiff Airport", another name for CWL is "Maes Awyr Caerdydd".
• The closest airport to Cardiff Airport (CWL) is MoD St Athan (DGX), which is located only 4 miles (6 kilometers) W of CWL.
• On 1 April 1965 the Ministry of Aviation handed over the airport to Glamorgan County Council and it was renamed Glamorgan Airport.
• Cardiff Airport (CWL) currently has only 1 runway.
• In April 1995, due to planned Local Government re-organisation in Wales, the Airport Company was privatised, with shares being sold to property and development firm, TBI plc, which has now been converted back to a private company called TBI Ltd and is concessionary to Orlando Sanford International Airport.
• 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.
• In the 1970s, the supersonic airliner Concorde made a few flights into the airport on special occasions.
• 1986 saw a further extension of 750 ft to the runway, costing in the region of £1 million, thus attracting more business to the airport in the form of new-generation jet aircraft.

Facts about Merzbrück Airfield (AAH):

• The closest airport to Merzbrück Airfield (AAH) is NATO Air Base Geilenkirchen E–3A Component (GKE), which is located only 11 miles (18 kilometers) NNW of AAH.
• In addition to being known as "Merzbrück Airfield", another name for AAH is "Flugplatz Merzbrück".
• The airport was built about 1932 as a grass airfield, and throughout the 1930s was used by small light aircraft.
• After the war, the airport was used by the British Forces Germany and later by the Belgian Forces in Germany.
• Merzbrück Airfield (AAH) currently has only 1 runway.
• Because of Merzbrück Airfield's relatively low elevation of 623 feet, planes can take off or land at Merzbrück Airfield 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 Merzbrück Airfield (AAH) is Chatham Islands (CHT), which is located 11,937 miles (19,210 kilometers) away in Waitangi, Chatham Islands, New Zealand.