Nonstop flight route between Olbia, Italy and St Athan, Wales, United Kingdom:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Olbia Costa Smeralda Airport (OLB), Olbia, Italy and MoD St Athan (DGX), St Athan, Wales, United Kingdom would travel a Great Circle distance of 952 miles (or 1,533 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 relatively short distance between Olbia Costa Smeralda Airport and MoD St Athan, the route shown on this map most likely still appears to be a straight line.

Departure Airport Information:

Arrival Airport Information:

Facts about Olbia Costa Smeralda Airport (OLB):

• In addition to being known as "Olbia Costa Smeralda Airport", another name for OLB is "Aeroporto di Olbia-Costa Smeralda".
• The furthest airport from Olbia Costa Smeralda Airport (OLB) is Chatham Islands (CHT), which is nearly antipodal to Olbia Costa Smeralda Airport (meaning Olbia Costa Smeralda Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Chatham Islands), and is located 12,071 miles (19,426 kilometers) away in Waitangi, Chatham Islands, New Zealand.
• Because of Olbia Costa Smeralda Airport's relatively low elevation of 37 feet, planes can take off or land at Olbia Costa Smeralda 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.
• Olbia Costa Smeralda Airport handled 1,887,640 passengers last year.
• Olbia Costa Smeralda Airport (OLB) currently has only 1 runway.
• The closest airport to Olbia Costa Smeralda Airport (OLB) is Figari-Sud Corse Airport (Figari South Corsica Airport) (FSC), which is located 48 miles (77 kilometers) NNW of OLB.

Facts about MoD St Athan (DGX):

• The furthest airport from MoD St Athan (DGX) is Dunedin International Airport (DUD), which is located 11,960 miles (19,248 kilometers) away in Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand.
• RAF St Athan was also home for the Royal Air Force Administrative Apprentice Training School.
• MOD St Athan is a large Ministry of Defence unit near the village of St Athan in the Vale of Glamorgan, southern Wales.
• The training to be carried out at St Athan was to be specialist phase 2 and phase 3 engineering courses of the Royal Navy, Army and Royal Air Force.
• Just before 1100 GMT on 11 February 2009, two Grob Tutor aircraft flying out of St Athan were involved in a mid-air collision in which two Air Training Corps cadets and their instructors, both RAF pilots, died.
• The closest airport to MoD St Athan (DGX) is Cardiff Airport (CWL), which is located only 4 miles (6 kilometers) E of DGX.
• Because of MoD St Athan's relatively low elevation of 163 feet, planes can take off or land at MoD St Athan 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 MOD later decided that DARA's 'Fast Jets' and 'Engines' businesses would close by April 2007, although the 'Large Aircraft' business would continue and, on 14 April 2005, the Project Red Dragon super-hangar opened and DARA moved its VC10 operations from its existing 'Twin Peaks' hangar into the new facility.
• The MOD continued to negotiate the project with the Metrix Consortium, but the price rose several times, reaching £14 billion in mid-2009.
• MoD St Athan (DGX) currently has only 1 runway.
• In March 2004, however, DARA announced the loss of 550 jobs at St Athan as part of streamlining to make DARA more efficient and better able to compete with the private sector for lucrative aircraft repair contracts, but also because they lost out to a direct RAF bid for a contract to upgrade the air force's fleet of ageing Harrier jump jet aircraft.