Nonstop flight route between Hengchun, Taiwan and Falkland Islands:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Hengchun Airport (HCN), Hengchun, Taiwan and RAF Mount Pleasant (MPN), Falkland Islands would travel a Great Circle distance of 10,378 miles (or 16,702 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 Hengchun Airport and RAF Mount Pleasant, 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 Hengchun Airport and RAF Mount Pleasant. 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 Hengchun Airport (HCN):

• Hengchun Airport (HCN) currently has only 1 runway.
• The furthest airport from Hengchun Airport (HCN) is Dr. Luis María Argaña International Airport (ESG), which is nearly antipodal to Hengchun Airport (meaning Hengchun Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Dr. Luis María Argaña International Airport), and is located 12,350 miles (19,876 kilometers) away in Mariscal Estigarribia, Paraguay.
• Due to its location, the airport experiences strong Katabatic wind and is forced to close.
• The closest airport to Hengchun Airport (HCN) is Kaohsiung International Airport (Kaohsiung Siaogang Airport) (KHH), which is located 44 miles (72 kilometers) NNW of HCN.
• Because of Hengchun Airport's relatively low elevation of 46 feet, planes can take off or land at Hengchun 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.
• In addition to being known as "Hengchun Airport", other names for HCN include "恆春航空站恆春機場" and "Héngchūn HángkōngzhànHéngchūn Jīchǎng".
• The airport construction was finished in 2003 and opened to public in 2004 with a cost of NT$ 539,000,000.
• Mandarin Airlines and TransAsia Airways dropped out from serving the airport due to poor load factor and Hengchun Peninsular's seasonal strong winds which make landing and take off dangerous.

Facts about RAF Mount Pleasant (MPN):

• The closest airport to RAF Mount Pleasant (MPN) is Port Stanley Airport (PSY), which is located 30 miles (49 kilometers) ENE of MPN.
• The furthest airport from RAF Mount Pleasant (MPN) is Mohe Gulian Airport (OHE), which is nearly antipodal to RAF Mount Pleasant (meaning RAF Mount Pleasant is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Mohe Gulian Airport), and is located 12,353 miles (19,879 kilometers) away in Mohe, Heilongjiang, China.
• On 2 April 2012, an Uruguayan air company, Air Class Líneas Aéreas, gained permission from the Uruguayan Ministry of Defence to start a commercial flight to the Falkland Islands.
• 33 Engineer Regiment provides constant support and is part of the Joint Service Falkland Islands Detachment which consists of RAF and RLC EOD teams.
• The British government felt that Stanley airfield was not the best option for a large, permanent station and decided to construct a new RAF station and make it the centrepiece of considerably strengthened air defences for the Falkland Islands, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands.
• On 2 March 2012, the Argentinian President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner called for Aerolineas Argentinas flights to Buenos Aires to replace LAN Airlines flights to Chile.