Nonstop flight route between St Athan, Wales, United Kingdom and Lüliang, Shanxi, China:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between MoD St Athan (DGX), St Athan, Wales, United Kingdom and Lüliang Airport (LLV), Lüliang, Shanxi, China would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,126 miles (or 8,250 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 Lüliang 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 Lüliang 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):

• The last aircraft to be serviced at St Athan, a Vickers VC10, departed the site on 23 February 2012.
• MoD St Athan (DGX) currently has only 1 runway.
• The only squadrons to operate out of St Athan on a regular basis are the University of Wales Air Squadron, flying Grob Tutors and No 634 Volunteer Gliding Squadron using Vigilant T.1s.
• The closest airport to MoD St Athan (DGX) is Cardiff Airport (CWL), which is located only 4 miles (6 kilometers) E of DGX.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.

Facts about Lüliang Airport (LLV):

• In addition to being known as "Lüliang Airport", other names for LLV include "吕梁机场", "Lǚliáng Jīchǎng" and "ZBLL".
• The closest airport to Lüliang Airport (LLV) is Taiyuan Wuxu International Airport (TYN), which is located 81 miles (131 kilometers) E of LLV.
• The furthest airport from Lüliang Airport (LLV) is Colonia Catriel Airport (CCT), which is nearly antipodal to Lüliang Airport (meaning Lüliang Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Colonia Catriel Airport), and is located 12,379 miles (19,922 kilometers) away in Colonia Catriel, Río Negro, Argentina.