Nonstop flight route between Taroa Island, Maloelap Atoll, Marshall Islands and St Athan, Wales, United Kingdom:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Maloelap Airport (MAV), Taroa Island, Maloelap Atoll, Marshall Islands and MoD St Athan (DGX), St Athan, Wales, United Kingdom would travel a Great Circle distance of 8,271 miles (or 13,312 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 Maloelap 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 Maloelap 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 Maloelap Airport (MAV):

• The closest airport to Maloelap Airport (MAV) is Kaben Airport (KBT), which is located 29 miles (47 kilometers) WNW of MAV.
• The furthest airport from Maloelap Airport (MAV) is RAF Ascension (ASI), which is nearly antipodal to Maloelap Airport (meaning Maloelap Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from RAF Ascension), and is located 12,049 miles (19,391 kilometers) away in Georgetown, Ascension Island, Saint Helena.
• Because of Maloelap Airport's relatively low elevation of 4 feet, planes can take off or land at Maloelap 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.
• Maloelap Airport (MAV) currently has only 1 runway.
• In addition to being known as "Maloelap Airport", other names for MAV include "Taroa Airfield" and "3N1".

Facts about MoD St Athan (DGX):

• 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.
• MoD St Athan (DGX) currently has only 1 runway.
• The closest airport to MoD St Athan (DGX) is Cardiff Airport (CWL), which is located only 4 miles (6 kilometers) E of 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.
• 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.
• In March 2003 it was confirmed that a new hi-tech maintenance centre would be built, creating 3,300 jobs.
• The MOD continued to negotiate the project with the Metrix Consortium, but the price rose several times, reaching £14 billion in mid-2009.
• In 2006, the Special Forces Support Group was raised at St Athan and the Welsh Guards returned to London.
• St Athan also became the major RAF maintenance base for Vulcan, Victor, Buccaner, Phantom, Harrier, Tornado, Jaguar, Hawk and VC10 aircraft, originally under direct RAF control, but latterly under the auspices of the Defence Aviation Repair Agency.
• 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.