Nonstop flight route between Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Atka, Alaska, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between RAF Fairford (FFD), Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Atka Airport (AKB), Atka, Alaska, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,244 miles (or 8,440 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 RAF Fairford and Atka 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 RAF Fairford and Atka 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 RAF Fairford (FFD):

• Fairford was chosen in 1969 as the British test centre for the Concorde aircraft, which continued until 1977.
• The furthest airport from RAF Fairford (FFD) is Dunedin International Airport (DUD), which is located 11,898 miles (19,148 kilometers) away in Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand.
• The closest airport to RAF Fairford (FFD) is RAF Brize Norton (BZZ), which is located only 10 miles (16 kilometers) ENE of FFD.
• In the early years of the Cold War the British and American governments reached an agreement under which elements of the USAF Strategic Air Command would be based in the UK.
• On 12 May 2005, USAFE activated the 501st Combat Support Wing, with headquarters at RAF Alconbury, to provide support to its GSUs in the United Kingdom.
• Due to the deteriorating airfield facilities and its unique NATO heavy bomber mission, RAF Fairford underwent a $100 million upgrade of its runway and fuel systems in the largest NATO funded airfield construction project within a NATO country since the end of the Cold War.

Facts about Atka Airport (AKB):

• The furthest airport from Atka Airport (AKB) is Cape Town International Airport (CPT), which is located 11,025 miles (17,743 kilometers) away in Cape Town, South Africa.
• The closest airport to Atka Airport (AKB) is Adak Airport (ADK), which is located 106 miles (171 kilometers) WSW of AKB.
• Because of Atka Airport's relatively low elevation of 57 feet, planes can take off or land at Atka 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.
• Atka Airport (AKB) currently has only 1 runway.
• In addition to being known as "Atka Airport", another name for AKB is "AKA".
• As per Federal Aviation Administration records, the airport had 321 passenger boardings in calendar year 2008, 406 enplanements in 2009, and 322 in 2010.