Nonstop flight route between Falkland Islands and Wakkanai, Hokkaido, Japan:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between RAF Mount Pleasant (MPN), Falkland Islands and Wakkanai Airport (WKJ), Wakkanai, Hokkaido, Japan would travel a Great Circle distance of 11,416 miles (or 18,372 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 Wakkanai 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 Wakkanai 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):

• 33 Engineer Regiment provides constant support and is part of the Joint Service Falkland Islands Detachment which consists of RAF and RLC EOD teams.
• Flights are planned to Saint Helena when a new airport there opens in 2016.
• 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.
• A flight of Westland Sea King helicopters for support and search and rescue has been located at Mount Pleasant since November 2007.
• 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.
• 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.

Facts about Wakkanai Airport (WKJ):

• In addition to being known as "Wakkanai Airport", other names for WKJ include "稚内空港" and "Wakkanai Kūkō".
• Because of Wakkanai Airport's relatively low elevation of 27 feet, planes can take off or land at Wakkanai 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 Wakkanai Airport (WKJ) is Port Stanley Airport (PSY), which is located 11,446 miles (18,420 kilometers) away in Stanley, Falkland Islands, United Kingdom.
• In 1987, the 1,200 m main runway was extended to 1,800 m, allowing All Nippon Airways to begin jet service to Tokyo.
• Until 1989, the JNR Temboku Line passed by the airport.
• The closest airport to Wakkanai Airport (WKJ) is Okhotsk Monbetsu Airport (MBE), which is located 109 miles (176 kilometers) SE of WKJ.
• Wakkanai Airport (WKJ) currently has only 1 runway.