Nonstop flight route between St Athan, Wales, United Kingdom and Talkeetna, Alaska, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between MoD St Athan (DGX), St Athan, Wales, United Kingdom and Talkeetna Airport (TKA), Talkeetna, Alaska, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,370 miles (or 7,033 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 large distance between MoD St Athan and Talkeetna 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 Talkeetna 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 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.
• MoD St Athan (DGX) currently has only 1 runway.
• 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.
• 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 2003 it was confirmed that a new hi-tech maintenance centre would be built, creating 3,300 jobs.
• The MOD continued to negotiate the project with the Metrix Consortium, but the price rose several times, reaching £14 billion in mid-2009.
• 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.

Facts about Talkeetna Airport (TKA):

• The closest airport to Talkeetna Airport (TKA) is Willow Airport (WOW), which is located 39 miles (63 kilometers) S of TKA.
• The furthest airport from Talkeetna Airport (TKA) is Port Elizabeth International Airport (PLZ), which is located 10,470 miles (16,850 kilometers) away in Port Elizabeth, South Africa.
• Talkeetna Airport covers an area of 624 acres at an elevation of 358 feet above mean sea level.
• The airport is home to at least seven air taxi operations, and is very busy during tourist season because of its proximity to Mount McKinley.
• Talkeetna Airport is a state-owned public-use airport located one nautical mile east of the central business district of Talkeetna, in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough of the U.S.
• Talkeetna Airport (TKA) currently has only 1 runway.
• Because of Talkeetna Airport's relatively low elevation of 358 feet, planes can take off or land at Talkeetna 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.