Nonstop flight route between Santa Marta, Colombia and St Athan, Wales, United Kingdom:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Simón Bolívar International Airport (SMR), Santa Marta, Colombia and MoD St Athan (DGX), St Athan, Wales, United Kingdom would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,794 miles (or 7,715 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 Simón Bolívar International 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 Simón Bolívar International 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 Simón Bolívar International Airport (SMR):

• Because of Simón Bolívar International Airport's relatively low elevation of 22 feet, planes can take off or land at Simón Bolívar 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.
• Simón Bolívar International Airport (SMR) currently has only 1 runway.
• The furthest airport from Simón Bolívar International Airport (SMR) is Christmas Island Airport (XCH), which is nearly antipodal to Simón Bolívar International Airport (meaning Simón Bolívar International Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Christmas Island Airport), and is located 12,390 miles (19,940 kilometers) away in Christmas Island, Australia.
• The closest airport to Simón Bolívar International Airport (SMR) is Ernesto Cortissoz International Airport (BAQ), which is located 41 miles (65 kilometers) WSW of SMR.
• In addition to being known as "Simón Bolívar International Airport", another name for SMR is "Aeropuerto Internacional Simón Bolívar".

Facts about MoD St Athan (DGX):

• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• MoD St Athan (DGX) currently has only 1 runway.
• St Athan also became the major RAF maintenance base for Vulcan, Victor, Buccaner, Phantom, Harrier, Tornado, Jaguar, Hawk and VC10 aircraft, originally under direct RAF control, but latterly under the auspices of the Defence Aviation Repair Agency.
• 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.
• During the war a dummy airfield was built using wood and cardboard a few miles west of the original airfield and successful efforts were made to hide the proper field.
• 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.
• The only squadrons to operate out of St Athan on a regular basis are the University of Wales Air Squadron, flying Grob Tutors and No 634 Volunteer Gliding Squadron using Vigilant T.1s.
• 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.