Nonstop flight route between Falkland Islands and Keflavík (near Reykjavík), Iceland:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between RAF Mount Pleasant (MPN), Falkland Islands and Keflavík International Airport (KEF), Keflavík (near Reykjavík), Iceland would travel a Great Circle distance of 8,231 miles (or 13,246 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 Keflavík International 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 Keflavík International 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):

• Mount Pleasant was opened by Prince Andrew on 12 May 1985, becoming fully operational the following year.
• A flight of Westland Sea King helicopters for support and search and rescue has been located at Mount Pleasant since November 2007.
• 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.
• 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.
• 33 Engineer Regiment provides constant support and is part of the Joint Service Falkland Islands Detachment which consists of RAF and RLC EOD teams.
• On 2 March 2012, the Argentinian President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner called for Aerolineas Argentinas flights to Buenos Aires to replace LAN Airlines flights to Chile.
• The closest airport to RAF Mount Pleasant (MPN) is Port Stanley Airport (PSY), which is located 30 miles (49 kilometers) ENE of MPN.

Facts about Keflavík International Airport (KEF):

• Transport between the airport and Reykjavik city is by road only.
• The main carriers at Keflavík are Icelandair and WOW air, who make the airport their main hub.
• During the war the airport complex only served military purposes, but at war's end it became a refueling stop for the quickly developing international civil aviation crossing the Atlantic.
• On 21 July 2013, a Russian Sukhoi Superjet 100 airliner, prototype aircraft 97005, made a belly landing during a test flight.
• Because of Keflavík International Airport's relatively low elevation of 171 feet, planes can take off or land at Keflavík International 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 furthest airport from Keflavík International Airport (KEF) is Ryan's Creek Aerodrome (SZS), which is located 11,188 miles (18,005 kilometers) away in Stewart Island, New Zealand.
• Although the population of Iceland is only about 300,000, there are scheduled flights to and from nine locations in the United States, four in Canada and 31 cities across Europe.
• In addition to being known as "Keflavík International Airport", another name for KEF is "Keflavíkurflugvöllur".
• The closest airport to Keflavík International Airport (KEF) is Reykjavík Airport (RKV), which is located 22 miles (36 kilometers) ENE of KEF.
• Keflavík International Airport (KEF) has 2 runways.