Nonstop flight route between Tehran, Iran and St Athan, Wales, United Kingdom:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Mehrabad Airport (THR), Tehran, Iran and MoD St Athan (DGX), St Athan, Wales, United Kingdom would travel a Great Circle distance of 2,871 miles (or 4,620 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 Mehrabad 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 Mehrabad 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 Mehrabad Airport (THR):

• Training, maintenance and engineering facilities of Iran Air and Iran Aseman Airlines are located at the airport.
• Mehrabad Airport (THR) has 3 runways.
• In addition to being known as "Mehrabad Airport", another name for THR is "فرودگاه مهرآباد".
• The closest airport to Mehrabad Airport (THR) is Tehran Imam Khomeini International Airport (IKA), which is located 21 miles (34 kilometers) SSW of THR.
• Mehrabad International Airport consists of six terminals, with Terminals 1,3 and 5 only used during Haj and Umrah seasons.
• The airport has the head offices of Iran Air and the Iran Civil Aviation Organization.
• The furthest airport from Mehrabad Airport (THR) is Totegegie Airport (GMR), which is located 11,490 miles (18,491 kilometers) away in Mangareva, Gambier Islands, French Polynesia.
• Mehrabad Airport handled 13,163,368 passengers last year.

Facts about MoD St Athan (DGX):

• 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 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.
• 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.
• The two cadet passengers were cousins and were named as Katie Jo Davies, 15, and Nikitta Walters, 14.
• 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 last aircraft to be serviced at St Athan, a Vickers VC10, departed the site on 23 February 2012.
• The MOD continued to negotiate the project with the Metrix Consortium, but the price rose several times, reaching £14 billion in mid-2009.