Nonstop flight route between Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom and Guangyuan, Sichuan, China:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Cardiff Airport (CWL), Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom and Guangyuan Airport (GYS), Guangyuan, Sichuan, China would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,232 miles (or 8,419 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 Cardiff Airport and Guangyuan 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 Cardiff Airport and Guangyuan 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 Cardiff Airport (CWL):

• Cardiff Airport handled 1,072,062 passengers last year.
• In the 1970s, the supersonic airliner Concorde made a few flights into the airport on special occasions.
• The closest airport to Cardiff Airport (CWL) is MoD St Athan (DGX), which is located only 4 miles (6 kilometers) W of CWL.
• 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.
• In 2007 a new airline was mooted as a new home carrier at the airport.
• 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.
• Cardiff Airport has also had several problems with wild fly-grazing horses around the airfield and the Redwings Sanctuary in Norfolk were needed to assist in the rescue of 23 unclaimed horses that had been left on the site.
• Cardiff Airport (CWL) currently has only 1 runway.
• In addition to being known as "Cardiff Airport", another name for CWL is "Maes Awyr Caerdydd".
• The airport was used by 2.1 million passengers in 2008, falling to around 1.1 million passengers in 2013, according to the United Kingdom Civil Aviation Authority, a reduction of nearly 50% since 2008, making it the 21st busiest airport in the UK in terms of passenger numbers.
• 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.

Facts about Guangyuan Airport (GYS):

• The closest airport to Guangyuan Airport (GYS) is Mianyang Nanjiao Airport (MIG), which is located 87 miles (140 kilometers) SW of GYS.
• The furthest airport from Guangyuan Airport (GYS) is Viña del Mar Airport (KNA), which is nearly antipodal to Guangyuan Airport (meaning Guangyuan Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Viña del Mar Airport), and is located 12,268 miles (19,744 kilometers) away in Viña del Mar, Chile.
• In addition to being known as "Guangyuan Airport", other names for GYS include "广元机场" and "Guǎngyuán Jīchǎng".
• Because of Guangyuan Airport's high elevation of 14,472 feet, planes must typically fly at a faster airspeed in order to takeoff or land at GYS. Combined with a high temperature, this could make GYS a "Hot & High" airport, where the air density is lower than it would otherwise be at sea level.