Nonstop flight route between Fayetteville/Springdale, Arkansas, United States and St Athan, Wales, United Kingdom:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport (XNA), Fayetteville/Springdale, Arkansas, United States and MoD St Athan (DGX), St Athan, Wales, United Kingdom would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,349 miles (or 6,999 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 Northwest Arkansas Regional 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 Northwest Arkansas Regional 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 Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport (XNA):

• As per Federal Aviation Administration records, the airport had 547,871 passenger boardings in calendar year 2008, 530,087 enplanements in 2009, and 549,195 in 2010.
• The furthest airport from Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport (XNA) is Margaret River Airport (MGV), which is located 10,773 miles (17,337 kilometers) away in Margaret River, Western Australia, Australia.
• The closest airport to Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport (XNA) is Smith Field (SLG), which is located only 12 miles (19 kilometers) WSW of XNA.
• Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport (XNA) has 2 runways.

Facts about MoD St Athan (DGX):

• The last aircraft to be serviced at St Athan, a Vickers VC10, departed the site on 23 February 2012.
• 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.
• The new academy was claimed to create up to 5000 jobs at St Athan with a £14 billion investment over 25 years with an estimated £57.4 million spent into the local economy.
• 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.
• MoD St Athan (DGX) currently has only 1 runway.
• The two cadet passengers were cousins and were named as Katie Jo Davies, 15, and Nikitta Walters, 14.
• 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 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 is a large Ministry of Defence unit near the village of St Athan in the Vale of Glamorgan, southern Wales.
• In March 2003 it was confirmed that a new hi-tech maintenance centre would be built, creating 3,300 jobs.
• 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.