Nonstop flight route between St Athan, Wales, United Kingdom and Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between MoD St Athan (DGX), St Athan, Wales, United Kingdom and Tenerife North Airport (TFN), Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain would travel a Great Circle distance of 1,719 miles (or 2,767 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 Tenerife North 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):

• 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 base has been home to the RAF No.
• 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.
• Just before 1100 GMT on 11 February 2009, two Grob Tutor aircraft flying out of St Athan were involved in a mid-air collision in which two Air Training Corps cadets and their instructors, both RAF pilots, died.
• MoD St Athan (DGX) currently has only 1 runway.
• The closest airport to MoD St Athan (DGX) is Cardiff Airport (CWL), which is located only 4 miles (6 kilometers) E of DGX.
• 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.
• 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 station officially opened as RAF St Athan on 1 September 1938 and the first unit to take up residence was No 4 School of Technical Training.
• 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.

Facts about Tenerife North Airport (TFN):

• The closest airport to Tenerife North Airport (TFN) is Tenerife-South Airport (TFS), which is located 33 miles (54 kilometers) SSW of TFN.
• Tenerife North Airport (TFN) currently has only 1 runway.
• Tenerife North Airport handled 3,717,944 passengers last year.
• In addition to being known as "Tenerife North Airport", another name for TFN is "Aeropuerto de Tenerife Norte".
• The furthest airport from Tenerife North Airport (TFN) is Norfolk Island Airport (NLK), which is nearly antipodal to Tenerife North Airport (meaning Tenerife North Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Norfolk Island Airport), and is located 12,175 miles (19,593 kilometers) away in Norfolk Island, Australia.
• In July 1936 Francisco Franco did not fly from here after taking over the island to invade the mainland Spain.
• Tenerife North Airport was the scene of the Tenerife airport disaster, to date the worst accident in aviation history.
• A new terminal was inaugurated in 2002, comprising car park, motorway access ramps, and four-story terminal building, with 12 gates.