Nonstop flight route between Falkland Islands and Badajoz, Spain:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between RAF Mount Pleasant (MPN), Falkland Islands and Badajoz Airport (BJZ), Badajoz, Spain would travel a Great Circle distance of 6,995 miles (or 11,257 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 RAF Mount Pleasant and Badajoz 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 RAF Mount Pleasant and Badajoz 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 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.
• There is also a Joint Communications Unit providing the electronic warfare and command and control systems for the Royal Navy, British Army and Royal Air Force.
• Flights are planned to Saint Helena when a new airport there opens in 2016.
• Flights of Phantoms were rotated through the airfield until 1992 when they were replaced with Tornado F3s.
• After the surrender of the Argentine ground forces on the islands, the British still faced the problem of potential Argentine air attacks from Argentina, so an aircraft carrier had to remain on station to guard the islands with its squadron of Sea Harriers until the local airfield was prepared for jet aircraft.
• 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.
• 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.
• A flight of Westland Sea King helicopters for support and search and rescue has been located at Mount Pleasant since November 2007.

Facts about Badajoz Airport (BJZ):

• In addition to being known as "Badajoz Airport", other names for BJZ include "Aeropuerto de Badajoz", "Talavera la Real Air Base" and "Base Aérea de Talavera la Real".
• Badajoz Airport handled 29,113 passengers last year.
• The furthest airport from Badajoz Airport (BJZ) is New Plymouth Airport (NPL), which is nearly antipodal to Badajoz Airport (meaning Badajoz Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from New Plymouth Airport), and is located 12,382 miles (19,928 kilometers) away in New Plymouth, New Zealand.
• The closest airport to Badajoz Airport (BJZ) is Beja Airport (BYJ), which is located 82 miles (132 kilometers) SW of BJZ.
• Badajoz Airport (BJZ) currently has only 1 runway.
• Because of Badajoz Airport's relatively low elevation of 608 feet, planes can take off or land at Badajoz 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.