Nonstop flight route between Lafayette, Louisiana, United States and Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Lafayette Regional Airport (LFT), Lafayette, Louisiana, United States and Cardiff Airport (CWL), Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,564 miles (or 7,345 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 Lafayette Regional 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 Lafayette Regional 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 Lafayette Regional Airport (LFT):

• The closest airport to Lafayette Regional Airport (LFT) is Acadiana Regional Airport (ARA), which is located only 13 miles (21 kilometers) SSE of LFT.
• The airport opened as Lafayette Municipal Airport on 29 November 1930.
• Lafayette Regional Airport (LFT) has 3 runways.
• The furthest airport from Lafayette Regional Airport (LFT) is Cocos (Keeling) Island Airport (CCK), which is located 11,070 miles (17,815 kilometers) away in Cocos Islands, Australia.
• Because of Lafayette Regional Airport's relatively low elevation of 42 feet, planes can take off or land at Lafayette Regional 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.
• The three airlines at Lafayette, American Eagle, Delta Connection and United Express, now use regional jets, although Delta has announced it will begin mainline service nonstop to Atlanta on July 3, 2014 using the Boeing 717 jetliner.
• In 1948 Eastern Air Lines began the first scheduled passenger service.
• The airfield was transferred from the DeRidder AAB to Esler Army Airfield on 24 March 1944.

Facts about Cardiff Airport (CWL):

• The airport was the main base for three local airlines.
• Also in 1952 Aer Lingus started a service to Dublin.
• Cardiff Airport (CWL) currently has only 1 runway.
• It was announced on 13 April 2011 that Bmibaby were to close their base at the airport, along with their base at Manchester Airport in the following October in order to redeploy aircraft at their other bases, including the creation of a new operation at Belfast City Airport.
• Cardiff Airport handled 1,072,062 passengers last year.
• In addition to being known as "Cardiff Airport", another name for CWL is "Maes Awyr Caerdydd".
• 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.
• The closest airport to Cardiff Airport (CWL) is MoD St Athan (DGX), which is located only 4 miles (6 kilometers) W of CWL.
• 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.
• Following a survey conducted by the airport operator in 2008 as part of a campaign to attract additional business routes to the airport, popular destinations such as Aberdeen, Frankfurt, Düsseldorf, Brussels and Scandinavian cities were identified as lacking a current link.
• In April 1995, due to planned Local Government re-organisation in Wales, the Airport Company was privatised, with shares being sold to property and development firm, TBI plc, which has now been converted back to a private company called TBI Ltd and is concessionary to Orlando Sanford International Airport.
• 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.
• The nationalisation of Cardiff Airport was criticised by the owners of Bristol Airport, who claimed that the £52 million paid for the airport was well over market value, and are worried about what they claim is the possibility of state subsidy to Cardiff Airport.
• On 16 May 2012, it was announced that airport Managing Director, Patrick Duffy, had left his position amid mounting pressure from the Welsh Government on the airport owners Abertis to improve the state of the airport and improve the services it offers, or sell the facility to an investor in a proposed public-private partnership.