Nonstop flight route between St Athan, Wales, United Kingdom and Longyan, Fujian, China:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between MoD St Athan (DGX), St Athan, Wales, United Kingdom and Longyan Guanzhishan Airport (LCX), Longyan, Fujian, China would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,997 miles (or 9,651 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 MoD St Athan and Longyan Guanzhishan 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 MoD St Athan and Longyan Guanzhishan 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 MoD St Athan (DGX):

• MoD St Athan (DGX) currently has only 1 runway.
• The last aircraft to be serviced at St Athan, a Vickers VC10, departed the site on 23 February 2012.
• 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 closest airport to MoD St Athan (DGX) is Cardiff Airport (CWL), which is located only 4 miles (6 kilometers) E of DGX.
• RAF St Athan was also home for the Royal Air Force Administrative Apprentice Training School.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.

Facts about Longyan Guanzhishan Airport (LCX):

• The closest airport to Longyan Guanzhishan Airport (LCX) is Meixian Airport (MXZ), which is located 99 miles (160 kilometers) SSW of LCX.
• The furthest airport from Longyan Guanzhishan Airport (LCX) is Teniente General Benjamín Matienzo International Airport (TUC), which is nearly antipodal to Longyan Guanzhishan Airport (meaning Longyan Guanzhishan Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Teniente General Benjamín Matienzo International Airport), and is located 12,297 miles (19,789 kilometers) away in San Miguel de Tucumán, Argentina.
• In addition to being known as "Longyan Guanzhishan Airport", other names for LCX include "龙岩冠豸山机场", "Lóngyán Guānzhìshān Jīchǎng" and "ZSLD".
• Longyan Guanzhishan Airport (LCX) currently has only 1 runway.