Nonstop flight route between St Athan, Wales, United Kingdom and Nîmes-Arles-Camargue, France:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between MoD St Athan (DGX), St Athan, Wales, United Kingdom and Nîmes-Alès-Camargue-Cévennes Airport (FNI), Nîmes-Arles-Camargue, France would travel a Great Circle distance of 642 miles (or 1,033 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 MoD St Athan and Nîmes-Alès-Camargue-Cévennes Airport, the route shown on this map most likely still appears to be a straight line.

Departure Airport Information:

Arrival Airport Information:

Facts about MoD St Athan (DGX):

• MoD St Athan (DGX) currently has only 1 runway.
• On 26 August 1993 an ATC civilian instructor was seriously injured and the RAF Volunteer Reserve pilot, Group Captain Roger Sweatman, was killed when their Chipmunk trainer, on an air experience flight, crashed after encountering difficulties during a simulated emergency low-height manoeuvre on take-off.
• The MOD later decided that DARA's 'Fast Jets' and 'Engines' businesses would close by April 2007, although the 'Large Aircraft' business would continue and, on 14 April 2005, the Project Red Dragon super-hangar opened and DARA moved its VC10 operations from its existing 'Twin Peaks' hangar into the new facility.
• In March 2003 it was confirmed that a new hi-tech maintenance centre would be built, creating 3,300 jobs.
• 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.
• The MOD continued to negotiate the project with the Metrix Consortium, but the price rose several times, reaching £14 billion in mid-2009.
• St Athan also became the major RAF maintenance base for Vulcan, Victor, Buccaner, Phantom, Harrier, Tornado, Jaguar, Hawk and VC10 aircraft, originally under direct RAF control, but latterly under the auspices of the Defence Aviation Repair Agency.
• 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.
• 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 2006, the Special Forces Support Group was raised at St Athan and the Welsh Guards returned to London.
• RAF St Athan was also home for the Royal Air Force Administrative Apprentice Training School.
• 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.

Facts about Nîmes-Alès-Camargue-Cévennes Airport (FNI):

• The closest airport to Nîmes-Alès-Camargue-Cévennes Airport (FNI) is Montpellier–Méditerranée Airport (MPL), which is located 26 miles (42 kilometers) WSW of FNI.
• Nîmes-Alès-Camargue-Cévennes Airport (FNI) currently has only 1 runway.
• The furthest airport from Nîmes-Alès-Camargue-Cévennes Airport (FNI) is Chatham Islands (CHT), which is nearly antipodal to Nîmes-Alès-Camargue-Cévennes Airport (meaning Nîmes-Alès-Camargue-Cévennes Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Chatham Islands), and is located 12,393 miles (19,945 kilometers) away in Waitangi, Chatham Islands, New Zealand.
• In April 2012, the European Commission announced that it had launched an in-depth investigation into the financial arrangements that Nîmes Airport had with public authorities and Ryanair.
• Because of Nîmes-Alès-Camargue-Cévennes Airport's relatively low elevation of 309 feet, planes can take off or land at Nîmes-Alès-Camargue-Cévennes 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.
• In response to the announcement, Ryanair maintained that its 'arrangements with all EU airports comply with competition rules'.
• In addition to being known as "Nîmes-Alès-Camargue-Cévennes Airport", another name for FNI is "Aéroport de Nîmes-Alès-Camargue-Cévennes".