Nonstop flight route between Philipsburg, Sint Maarten, Kingdom of the Netherlands and Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Princess Juliana International Airport (SXM), Philipsburg, Sint Maarten, Kingdom of the Netherlands and Cardiff Airport (CWL), Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom would travel a Great Circle distance of 3,957 miles (or 6,368 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 Princess Juliana International Airport and Cardiff 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 Princess Juliana International Airport and Cardiff 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 Princess Juliana International Airport (SXM):

• Because of Princess Juliana International Airport's relatively low elevation of 14 feet, planes can take off or land at Princess Juliana 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 furthest airport from Princess Juliana International Airport (SXM) is Karratha Airport (KTA), which is nearly antipodal to Princess Juliana International Airport (meaning Princess Juliana International Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Karratha Airport), and is located 12,252 miles (19,718 kilometers) away in Karratha / Dampier, Western Australia, Australia.
• PJIA is equipped with VOR/DME and NDB.
• The closest airport to Princess Juliana International Airport (SXM) is L'Espérance Airport Grand Case Airport (CCE), which is located only 6 miles (9 kilometers) NE of SXM.
• Because of increased passenger traffic and the expected growth of passenger traffic in the near future, Princess Juliana International Airport is being heavily modernized following a three-phased masterplan, commissioned in 1997.
• Princess Juliana International Airport (SXM) currently has only 1 runway.
• The airport was started as a military airstrip in 1942.
• Despite the reputed difficulties in approach, there have been no records of major incidents at the airport, although ALM Flight 980 crashed 30 miles from St.
• The new four-story terminal building offers 27,000 square metres of floor space and is fully air-conditioned.
• Runway 10/28 was renumbered from 09/27 in late 2008.
• However, the oil price increases since 2003 began impacting discretionary air travel worldwide by early 2008, and the prospect of further price increases threatens to reverse the recent expansion of tourist travel by jet which began with the 1980s oil glut.

Facts about Cardiff Airport (CWL):

• Also in 1952 Aer Lingus started a service to Dublin.
• In 2006 the Irish low cost carrier Ryanair withdrew from the airport ending 5 years of service on the Cardiff to Dublin route daily.
• Following a survey conducted by the airport operator in 2008 as part of a campaign to attract additional business routes to the airport, popular destinations such as Aberdeen, Frankfurt, Düsseldorf, Brussels and Scandinavian cities were identified as lacking a current link.
• Cardiff Airport handled 1,072,062 passengers last year.
• Passenger numbers increased from 2012 to 2013 which shows that Cardiff is making a slow recovery to try to reach passenger levels achieved over 10 years ago.
• Because of Cardiff Airport's relatively low elevation of 220 feet, planes can take off or land at Cardiff 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.
• It was announced on 28 October 2011, that Spanish low-cost carrier Vueling are to open a new route to Barcelona commencing 27 March 2012 operating the route three times per week.
• In December 1995, Heli-air Wales began training Helicopter Pilots from the Airport's southside, and are widely accredited with pioneering Helicopter Training in Wales.
• However, it emerged that the Airport had applied for £5 million of payments from the Welsh Assembly Government to deal with unspecified development at the terminal.
• Cardiff Airport (CWL) currently has only 1 runway.
• The closest airport to Cardiff Airport (CWL) is MoD St Athan (DGX), which is located only 4 miles (6 kilometers) W of CWL.
• The furthest airport from Cardiff Airport (CWL) is Dunedin International Airport (DUD), which is located 11,958 miles (19,244 kilometers) away in Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand.
• In addition to being known as "Cardiff Airport", another name for CWL is "Maes Awyr Caerdydd".