Nonstop flight route between Udon Thani, Thailand and St Athan, Wales, United Kingdom:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Udon Thani International Airport ท่าอากาศยานอุดรธานี (UTH), Udon Thani, Thailand and MoD St Athan (DGX), St Athan, Wales, United Kingdom would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,952 miles (or 9,579 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 Udon Thani International Airport ท่าอากาศยานอุดรธานี 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 Udon Thani International Airport ท่าอากาศยานอุดรธานี 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 Udon Thani International Airport ท่าอากาศยานอุดรธานี (UTH):

• Because of Udon Thani International Airport ท่าอากาศยานอุดรธานี's relatively low elevation of 579 feet, planes can take off or land at Udon Thani International Airport ท่าอากาศยานอุดรธานี 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 closest airport to Udon Thani International Airport ท่าอากาศยานอุดรธานี (UTH) is Wattay International Airport (VTE), which is located 44 miles (71 kilometers) NNW of UTH.
• Udon Thani International Airport ท่าอากาศยานอุดรธานี (UTH) currently has only 1 runway.
• The furthest airport from Udon Thani International Airport ท่าอากาศยานอุดรธานี (UTH) is Maria Reiche Neuman Airport (NZC), which is nearly antipodal to Udon Thani International Airport ท่าอากาศยานอุดรธานี (meaning Udon Thani International Airport ท่าอากาศยานอุดรธานี is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Maria Reiche Neuman Airport), and is located 12,207 miles (19,645 kilometers) away in Nazca, Ica Region, Peru.
• On February 8, 2006, an international group of skydivers from 31 countries called "the World Team" set a World Record for the largest freefall formation, a 400-way, over the Udon Thani airport.

Facts about MoD St Athan (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.
• MoD St Athan (DGX) currently has only 1 runway.
• 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 closest airport to MoD St Athan (DGX) is Cardiff Airport (CWL), which is located only 4 miles (6 kilometers) E of DGX.
• 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 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.
• 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.