Nonstop flight route between Falkland Islands and Mataram (near Praya), Lombok, Indonesia:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between RAF Mount Pleasant (MPN), Falkland Islands and Lombok International Airport (LOP), Mataram (near Praya), Lombok, Indonesia would travel a Great Circle distance of 8,239 miles (or 13,260 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 Lombok 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 Lombok 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• RAF Mount Pleasant has a wide range of social and sporting facilities including a gym, swimming pool, golf course, diving centre, karting, laserquest, library, cinema, bowling, climbing wall and indoor and outdoor sports pitches.
• Flights are planned to Saint Helena when a new airport there opens in 2016.
• Using the IATA airport code MPN, RAF Mount Pleasant also acts as the Falkland Islands' only international airport, along with its military role.

Facts about Lombok International Airport (LOP):

• Because of Lombok International Airport's relatively low elevation of 319 feet, planes can take off or land at Lombok 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 airport is not served by rail connections and there are none available on the island.
• Lombok International Airport (LOP) currently has only 1 runway.
• The construction of this airport was delayed and the opening date re-scheduled several times.
• As Selaparang Airport never accommodated wide bodied aircraft it is expected that further international and domestic services will soon supplement the existing routes providing higher passenger loads and freight volumes to those of the existing airport at Ampenan.
• The closest airport to Lombok International Airport (LOP) is Selaparang Airport (AMI), which is located only 18 miles (30 kilometers) NW of LOP.
• The furthest airport from Lombok International Airport (LOP) is San Tomé Airport (SOM), which is nearly antipodal to Lombok International Airport (meaning Lombok International Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from San Tomé Airport), and is located 12,405 miles (19,964 kilometers) away in San Tomé, Venezuela.
• In addition to being known as "Lombok International Airport", another name for LOP is "Bandar Udara Internasional Lombok".
• The runway, taxiways and apron were in final stages of construction and facilities installation in the 3rd quarter of 2010.
• Lombok International Airport handled 167,692 passengers last year.