Nonstop flight route between Falkland Islands and Yonaguni, Okinawa, Japan:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between RAF Mount Pleasant (MPN), Falkland Islands and Yonaguni Airport (OGN), Yonaguni, Okinawa, Japan would travel a Great Circle distance of 10,545 miles (or 16,971 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 Yonaguni 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 Yonaguni 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):

• Using the IATA airport code MPN, RAF Mount Pleasant also acts as the Falkland Islands' only international airport, along with its military role.
• 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.
• 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 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.
• Additionally, every Saturday LAN Airlines operates a scheduled commercial flight to Presidente Carlos Ibáñez del Campo International Airport of the Punta Arenas city in southern Chile, stopping at Río Gallegos, Argentina once a month.
• The closest airport to RAF Mount Pleasant (MPN) is Port Stanley Airport (PSY), which is located 30 miles (49 kilometers) ENE of MPN.
• 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.

Facts about Yonaguni Airport (OGN):

• In addition to being known as "Yonaguni Airport", other names for OGN include "Yonaguni Jima Airport", "与那国空港" and "Yonaguni Kūkō".
• The closest airport to Yonaguni Airport (OGN) is Hateruma Airport (HTR), which is located 59 miles (95 kilometers) ESE of OGN.
• The furthest airport from Yonaguni Airport (OGN) is Silvio Pettirossi International Airport (ASU), which is nearly antipodal to Yonaguni Airport (meaning Yonaguni Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Silvio Pettirossi International Airport), and is located 12,375 miles (19,916 kilometers) away in Asunción, Paraguay.
• Yonaguni Airport (OGN) currently has only 1 runway.
• Because of Yonaguni Airport's relatively low elevation of 49 feet, planes can take off or land at Yonaguni 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.