Nonstop flight route between Grand Rapids, Michigan, United States and Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Gerald R. Ford International Airport (GRR), Grand Rapids, Michigan, United States and Cardiff Airport (CWL), Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom would travel a Great Circle distance of 3,701 miles (or 5,955 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 Gerald R. Ford International Airport and Cardiff 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 Gerald R. Ford International Airport and Cardiff 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 Gerald R. Ford International Airport (GRR):

• Until October 31, 2011 the airport was a focus city for Allegiant Air.
• The furthest airport from Gerald R. Ford International Airport (GRR) is Margaret River Airport (MGV), which is located 11,165 miles (17,969 kilometers) away in Margaret River, Western Australia, Australia.
• Gerald R. Ford International Airport (GRR) has 3 runways.
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• The airport has two aircraft spotter locations.
• The first scheduled air service in the United States was between Grand Rapids and Detroit on a Ford-Stout monoplane named Miss Grand Rapids, which started July 26, 1926.
• Grand Rapids' first airport broke ground in November 1919, four miles south of downtown.
• The closest airport to Gerald R. Ford International Airport (GRR) is Park Township Airport (HLM), which is located 33 miles (53 kilometers) W of GRR.
• Metro Cab and Metro Cars provides taxi and luxury sedan service and several car rental agencies operate rental counters in the airport.
• Because of Gerald R. Ford International Airport's relatively low elevation of 794 feet, planes can take off or land at Gerald R. Ford International 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.

Facts about Cardiff Airport (CWL):

• The closest airport to Cardiff Airport (CWL) is MoD St Athan (DGX), which is located only 4 miles (6 kilometers) W of CWL.
• In the 1970s, the supersonic airliner Concorde made a few flights into the airport on special occasions.
• Because of Cardiff Airport's relatively low elevation of 220 feet, planes can take off or land at Cardiff 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.
• Cardiff Airport handled 1,072,062 passengers last year.
• However, it emerged that the Airport had applied for £5 million of payments from the Welsh Assembly Government to deal with unspecified development at the terminal.
• 1986 saw a further extension of 750 ft to the runway, costing in the region of £1 million, thus attracting more business to the airport in the form of new-generation jet aircraft.
• The furthest airport from Cardiff Airport (CWL) is Dunedin International Airport (DUD), which is located 11,958 miles (19,244 kilometers) away in Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand.
• In addition to being known as "Cardiff Airport", another name for CWL is "Maes Awyr Caerdydd".
• Cardiff Airport (CWL) currently has only 1 runway.
• Passenger numbers increased from 2012 to 2013 which shows that Cardiff is making a slow recovery to try to reach passenger levels achieved over 10 years ago.