Nonstop flight route between Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom and Tainan City, Taiwan, Republic of China:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Cardiff Airport (CWL), Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom and Tainan Airport (TNN), Tainan City, Taiwan, Republic of China would travel a Great Circle distance of 6,269 miles (or 10,089 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 Tainan 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 Tainan 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):

• 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 addition to being known as "Cardiff Airport", another name for CWL is "Maes Awyr Caerdydd".
• 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.
• Cardiff Airport handled 1,072,062 passengers last year.
• Cardiff Airport (CWL) currently has only 1 runway.
• The closest airport to Cardiff Airport (CWL) is MoD St Athan (DGX), which is located only 4 miles (6 kilometers) W of CWL.
• On 16 May 2012, it was announced that airport Managing Director, Patrick Duffy, had left his position amid mounting pressure from the Welsh Government on the airport owners Abertis to improve the state of the airport and improve the services it offers, or sell the facility to an investor in a proposed public-private partnership.
• Rees-Williams thought diverting the river at Pengam would be a problem, and feared that the tall chimney stacks of the nearby East Moors Steelworks could pose a safety hazard to aircraft.
• 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.
• In 2006 the Irish low cost carrier Ryanair withdrew from the airport ending 5 years of service on the Cardiff to Dublin route daily.
• On 15 May 2014 it was announced that Ryanair would return to the airport after an absence of 8 years by operating a service to Tenerife starting on 30 October the same year.
• 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 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.

Facts about Tainan Airport (TNN):

• It is the third busiest domestic airport after Taipei Songshan Airport and Kaohsiung Airport.
• In addition to being known as "Tainan Airport", other names for TNN include "臺南航空站台南機場" and "Táinán HángkōngzhànTáinán Jīchǎng".
• The closest airport to Tainan Airport (TNN) is Kaohsiung International Airport (Kaohsiung Siaogang Airport) (KHH), which is located 27 miles (44 kilometers) SSE of TNN.
• On 24 February 1969, Far Eastern Air Transport Flight 104, a Handley Page Dart Herald with 36 passengers and crew board, crashed while attempting an emergency landing at Tainan.
• Tainan Airport (TNN) has 2 runways.
• The furthest airport from Tainan Airport (TNN) is Dr. Luis María Argaña International Airport (ESG), which is nearly antipodal to Tainan Airport (meaning Tainan Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Dr. Luis María Argaña International Airport), and is located 12,355 miles (19,883 kilometers) away in Mariscal Estigarribia, Paraguay.
• Because of Tainan Airport's relatively low elevation of 63 feet, planes can take off or land at Tainan 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.
• A number of US units have been stationed at Tainan Air Base, including the 868th Tactical Missile Squadron from 1958 to 1962, which operated MGM-1 Matadors, probably under the ultimate control of the United States Taiwan Defense Command.