Nonstop flight route between Falkland Islands and Knock, Ireland:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between RAF Mount Pleasant (MPN), Falkland Islands and Ireland West Airport Knock (NOC), Knock, Ireland would travel a Great Circle distance of 7,845 miles (or 12,625 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 Ireland West Airport Knock, 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 Ireland West Airport Knock. 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.
• A flight of Westland Sea King helicopters for support and search and rescue has been located at Mount Pleasant since November 2007.
• On 2 April 2012, an Uruguayan air company, Air Class Líneas Aéreas, gained permission from the Uruguayan Ministry of Defence to start a commercial flight to the Falkland Islands.
• 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.
• 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.
• On 10 November 2011, it was announced that Prince William would be serving as a Sea King pilot on the station for six weeks during February and March 2012.

Facts about Ireland West Airport Knock (NOC):

• Since 2003, flag-carrier, low-cost and regional airlines including Aer Lingus, MyTravelLite, Bmibaby, Ryanair, Aer Arann, flybe, Lufthansa and EasyJet have added routes to the UK and mainland Europe.
• Ireland West Airport Knock (NOC) currently has only 1 runway.
• The closest airport to Ireland West Airport Knock (NOC) is Sligo Airport (SXL), which is located 27 miles (44 kilometers) NNE of NOC.
• In 2011, the month of August was the busiest in the airport's history with 84,052 passengers.
• Ireland West Airport Knock handled 665,000 passengers last year.
• The furthest airport from Ireland West Airport Knock (NOC) is Ryan's Creek Aerodrome (SZS), which is located 11,934 miles (19,206 kilometers) away in Stewart Island, New Zealand.
• Because of Ireland West Airport Knock's relatively low elevation of 665 feet, planes can take off or land at Ireland West Airport Knock 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.
• In addition to being known as "Ireland West Airport Knock", other names for NOC include "Horan International Airport" and "Aerfort Iarthar Éireann".