Nonstop flight route between Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom and Sacramento, California, United States:
Departure Airport:

Arrival Airport:

Distance from CWL to SMF:
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- About this route
- CWL Airport Information
- SMF Airport Information
- Facts about CWL
- Facts about SMF
- Map of Nearest Airports to CWL
- List of Nearest Airports to CWL
- Map of Furthest Airports from CWL
- List of Furthest Airports from CWL
- Map of Nearest Airports to SMF
- List of Nearest Airports to SMF
- Map of Furthest Airports from SMF
- List of Furthest Airports from SMF
About this route:
A direct, nonstop flight between Cardiff Airport (CWL), Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom and Sacramento International Airport (SMF), Sacramento, California, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,185 miles (or 8,344 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 Sacramento International 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 Sacramento International Airport. You'll see that it will travel the same route of the red line on this map!
Departure Airport Information:
IATA / ICAO Codes: | CWL / EGFF |
Airport Names: |
|
Location: | Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom |
GPS Coordinates: | 51°23'48"N by 3°20'35"W |
Area Served: | Cardiff South Wales Mid Wales West Wales |
Operator/Owner: | Welsh Government |
Airport Type: | Public |
Elevation: | 220 feet (67 meters) |
# of Runways: | 1 |
View all routes: | Routes from CWL |
More Information: | CWL Maps & Info |
Arrival Airport Information:
IATA / ICAO Codes: | SMF / KSMF |
Airport Name: | Sacramento International Airport |
Location: | Sacramento, California, United States |
GPS Coordinates: | 38°41'44"N by 121°35'26"W |
Area Served: | Sacramento, California |
Operator/Owner: | County of Sacramento |
Airport Type: | Public |
Elevation: | 27 feet (8 meters) |
# of Runways: | 2 |
View all routes: | Routes from SMF |
More Information: | SMF Maps & Info |
Facts about Cardiff Airport (CWL):
- In addition to being known as "Cardiff Airport", another name for CWL is "Maes Awyr Caerdydd".
- Cardiff Airport (CWL) currently has only 1 runway.
- 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.
- In 2006 the Irish low cost carrier Ryanair withdrew from the airport ending 5 years of service on the Cardiff to Dublin route daily.
- As of March 2013, the Welsh Government is in the process of acquiring Cardiff Airport from TBI/Abertis, who may also divest themselves of all their airport assets following international criticism of their management of these resources.
- 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 2012, the airport ran into a barrage of sustained criticism from the First Minister of Wales, Carwyn Jones.
- It was announced on 13 April 2011 that Bmibaby were to close their base at the airport, along with their base at Manchester Airport in the following October in order to redeploy aircraft at their other bases, including the creation of a new operation at Belfast City 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.
- The closest airport to Cardiff Airport (CWL) is MoD St Athan (DGX), which is located only 4 miles (6 kilometers) W of CWL.
Facts about Sacramento International Airport (SMF):
- The airport was a focus city for ExpressJet Airlines which independently operated Embraer ERJ-145 regional jets on point-to-point, "hub bypass" routes.
- Sacramento hosted one of Alaska Airlines' last MD-80 flights, Sacramento to Seattle.
- Sacramento International Airport (SMF) has 2 runways.
- The closest airport to Sacramento International Airport (SMF) is Sacramento Airport McClellan Airfield (MCC), which is located only 10 miles (17 kilometers) E of SMF.
- Sacramento County has tried to entice Virgin America into adding a Los Angeles route by giving them 400,000 dollars to operate out of terminal A or 150,000 dollars to operate in terminal B.
- Because of Sacramento International Airport's relatively low elevation of 27 feet, planes can take off or land at Sacramento International 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 Sacramento International Airport (SMF) is Tôlanaro Airport (FTU), which is located 11,280 miles (18,154 kilometers) away in Tôlanaro, Madagascar.
- Due to housing growth around Sacramento Executive Airport, the City of Sacramento Planning Department and the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors commissioned a study in the 1950s to move airline flights to a less populated area.
- September 11 did not deter growth at Sacramento International Airport.
- Sacramento International Airport handled 8,910,570 passengers last year.