Nonstop flight route between Lanzhou, Gansu, China and St Athan, Wales, United Kingdom:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Lanzhou Zhongchuan Airport (LHW), Lanzhou, Gansu, China and MoD St Athan (DGX), St Athan, Wales, United Kingdom would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,937 miles (or 7,946 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 Lanzhou Zhongchuan 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 Lanzhou Zhongchuan 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 Lanzhou Zhongchuan Airport (LHW):

• Lanzhou Zhongchuan Airport is an airport serving Lanzhou, the capital of Gansu Province, China.
• In addition to being known as "Lanzhou Zhongchuan Airport", other names for LHW include "兰州中川机场", "Lánzhōu Zhōngchuān Jīchǎng" and "ZGC".
• Because of Lanzhou Zhongchuan Airport's high elevation of 6,388 feet, planes must typically fly at a faster airspeed in order to takeoff or land at LHW. Combined with a high temperature, this could make LHW a "Hot & High" airport, where the air density is lower than it would otherwise be at sea level.
• The construction of a railway line between the airport and the city started on 2012-12-21.
• The closest airport to Lanzhou Zhongchuan Airport (LHW) is Lanzhou Zhongchuan Airport (ZGC), which is located only 0 mile (0 kilometer) N of LHW.
• Lanzhou Zhongchuan Airport (LHW) currently has only 1 runway.
• The furthest airport from Lanzhou Zhongchuan Airport (LHW) is Carriel Sur International Airport (CCP), which is nearly antipodal to Lanzhou Zhongchuan Airport (meaning Lanzhou Zhongchuan Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Carriel Sur International Airport), and is located 12,252 miles (19,718 kilometers) away in Concepción, Bío Bío Region, Chile.

Facts about MoD St Athan (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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• The training to be carried out at St Athan was to be specialist phase 2 and phase 3 engineering courses of the Royal Navy, Army and Royal Air Force.
• 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.
• The closest airport to MoD St Athan (DGX) is Cardiff Airport (CWL), which is located only 4 miles (6 kilometers) E of DGX.
• MoD St Athan (DGX) currently has only 1 runway.
• RAF St Athan has been used to house a number of army units throughout its life and, in 2003, the 1st Battalion, Welsh Guards moved from Aldershot to St Athan - the first time they have been based in Wales since they were formed in 1915.
• In 2006, the Special Forces Support Group was raised at St Athan and the Welsh Guards returned to London.