Nonstop flight route between Willows, California, United States and Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Willows-Glenn County Airport (WLW), Willows, California, United States and Cardiff Airport (CWL), Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,157 miles (or 8,300 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 Willows-Glenn County 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 Willows-Glenn County 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 Willows-Glenn County Airport (WLW):

• Willows-Glenn County Airport (WLW) has 2 runways.
• The furthest airport from Willows-Glenn County Airport (WLW) is Tôlanaro Airport (FTU), which is located 11,255 miles (18,114 kilometers) away in Tôlanaro, Madagascar.
• Because of Willows-Glenn County Airport's relatively low elevation of 141 feet, planes can take off or land at Willows-Glenn County 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.
• For the 12-month period ending March 31, 2011, the airport had 29,500 general aviation aircraft operations, an average of 80 per day.
• The closest airport to Willows-Glenn County Airport (WLW) is Chico Municipal Airport (CIC), which is located 27 miles (44 kilometers) NE of WLW.

Facts about Cardiff Airport (CWL):

• 1986 saw a further extension of 750 ft to the runway, costing in the region of £1 million, thus attracting more business to the airport in the form of new-generation jet aircraft.
• In addition to being known as "Cardiff Airport", another name for CWL is "Maes Awyr Caerdydd".
• In the 1970s, the supersonic airliner Concorde made a few flights into the airport on special occasions.
• 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.
• 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.
• Rees-Williams thought diverting the river at Pengam would be a problem, and feared that the tall chimney stacks of the nearby East Moors Steelworks could pose a safety hazard to aircraft.
• It was announced on 13 April 2011 that Bmibaby were to close their base at the airport, along with their base at Manchester Airport in the following October in order to redeploy aircraft at their other bases, including the creation of a new operation at Belfast City Airport.
• 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.
• The closest airport to Cardiff Airport (CWL) is MoD St Athan (DGX), which is located only 4 miles (6 kilometers) W of CWL.
• On 16 May 2012, it was announced that airport Managing Director, Patrick Duffy, had left his position amid mounting pressure from the Welsh Government on the airport owners Abertis to improve the state of the airport and improve the services it offers, or sell the facility to an investor in a proposed public-private partnership.
• Cardiff Airport handled 1,072,062 passengers last year.
• Cardiff Airport (CWL) currently has only 1 runway.
• 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.