Nonstop flight route between Raton, New Mexico, United States and St Athan, Wales, United Kingdom:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Raton Municipal Airport (RTN), Raton, New Mexico, United States and MoD St Athan (DGX), St Athan, Wales, United Kingdom would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,711 miles (or 7,582 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 Raton Municipal Airport and MoD St Athan, 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 Raton Municipal Airport and MoD St Athan. 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 Raton Municipal Airport (RTN):

• In addition to being known as "Raton Municipal Airport", another name for RTN is "Crews Field".
• Until around 1954 Continental Airlines stopped there, a DC-3 a day each way between Denver and Albuquerque, but Raton may not have seen an airliner since then.
• The closest airport to Raton Municipal Airport (RTN) is Perry Stokes Airport (TAD), which is located 37 miles (59 kilometers) NNE of RTN.
• Raton Municipal Airport is a city owned, public airport 12 miles southwest of Raton, in Colfax County, New Mexico.
• Because of Raton Municipal Airport's high elevation of 6,352 feet, planes must typically fly at a faster airspeed in order to takeoff or land at RTN. Combined with a high temperature, this could make RTN a "Hot & High" airport, where the air density is lower than it would otherwise be at sea level.
• The furthest airport from Raton Municipal Airport (RTN) is Sir Gaëtan Duval Airport (RRG), which is located 11,053 miles (17,788 kilometers) away in Rodrigues Island, Mauritius.
• Raton Municipal Airport (RTN) has 2 runways.

Facts about MoD St Athan (DGX):

• The MOD continued to negotiate the project with the Metrix Consortium, but the price rose several times, reaching £14 billion in mid-2009.
• The closest airport to MoD St Athan (DGX) is Cardiff Airport (CWL), which is located only 4 miles (6 kilometers) E of DGX.
• MoD St Athan (DGX) currently has only 1 runway.
• The two cadet passengers were cousins and were named as Katie Jo Davies, 15, and Nikitta Walters, 14.
• In 2009 building work was due to commence on a new defence training academy with its heart at St Athan.
• 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.
• The station officially opened as RAF St Athan on 1 September 1938 and the first unit to take up residence was No 4 School of Technical Training.
• 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 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.