Nonstop flight route between Falkland Islands and Rayong, Thailand:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between RAF Mount Pleasant (MPN), Falkland Islands and U-Tapao-Rayong-Pattaya International Airport (UTP), Rayong, Thailand would travel a Great Circle distance of 9,500 miles (or 15,289 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 U-Tapao-Rayong-Pattaya 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 U-Tapao-Rayong-Pattaya 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):

• The closest airport to RAF Mount Pleasant (MPN) is Port Stanley Airport (PSY), which is located 30 miles (49 kilometers) ENE of MPN.
• 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 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.
• 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.
• Currently located at Mount Pleasant are No.
• 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.

Facts about U-Tapao-Rayong-Pattaya International Airport (UTP):

• The furthest airport from U-Tapao-Rayong-Pattaya International Airport (UTP) is Jorge Chávez International Airport (LIM), which is nearly antipodal to U-Tapao-Rayong-Pattaya International Airport (meaning U-Tapao-Rayong-Pattaya International Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Jorge Chávez International Airport), and is located 12,302 miles (19,798 kilometers) away in Callao (near Lima), Peru.
• The closest airport to U-Tapao-Rayong-Pattaya International Airport (UTP) is Hua Hin Airport (HHQ), which is located 71 miles (114 kilometers) W of UTP.
• In addition to being known as "U-Tapao-Rayong-Pattaya International Airport", another name for UTP is "ท่าอากาศยานนานาชาติ อู่ตะเภา-ระยอง-พัทยา".
• As many as 100,000 passengers were stranded in Thailand until early-December.
• U-Tapao-Rayong-Pattaya International Airport (UTP) currently has only 1 runway.
• Because of U-Tapao-Rayong-Pattaya International Airport's relatively low elevation of 42 feet, planes can take off or land at U-Tapao-Rayong-Pattaya 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 closeness of the U-Tapao USAF base to Pattaya during the Vietnam War era is frequently cited as one of the main reasons for the development of prostitution in that town.