Nonstop flight route between Leh, India and St Athan, Wales, United Kingdom:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Kushok Bakula Rimpochhe Airport (IXL), Leh, India and MoD St Athan (DGX), St Athan, Wales, United Kingdom would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,056 miles (or 6,527 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 Kushok Bakula Rimpochhe Airport and MoD St Athan, 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 Kushok Bakula Rimpochhe Airport and MoD St Athan. 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 Kushok Bakula Rimpochhe Airport (IXL):

• In addition to being known as "Kushok Bakula Rimpochhe Airport", another name for IXL is "कुशोक बकुला रिम्पोचे हवाई अड्डा".
• Kushok Bakula Rimpochhe Airport (IXL) currently has only 1 runway.
• The furthest airport from Kushok Bakula Rimpochhe Airport (IXL) is Mataveri International Airport (IPC), which is located 11,802 miles (18,993 kilometers) away in Easter Island, Chile.
• The closest airport to Kushok Bakula Rimpochhe Airport (IXL) is Skardu Airport (KDU), which is located 141 miles (227 kilometers) NW of IXL.
• Because of Kushok Bakula Rimpochhe Airport's high elevation of 10,682 feet, planes must typically fly at a faster airspeed in order to takeoff or land at IXL. Combined with a high temperature, this could make IXL a "Hot & High" airport, where the air density is lower than it would otherwise be at sea level.

Facts about MoD St Athan (DGX):

• 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.
• 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 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.
• MoD St Athan (DGX) currently has only 1 runway.
• 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 closest airport to MoD St Athan (DGX) is Cardiff Airport (CWL), which is located only 4 miles (6 kilometers) E of DGX.
• The last aircraft to be serviced at St Athan, a Vickers VC10, departed the site on 23 February 2012.
• 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.