Nonstop flight route between Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Monkey Mia, Western Australia, Australia:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between RAF Fairford (FFD), Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Shark Bay Airport (MJK), Monkey Mia, Western Australia, Australia would travel a Great Circle distance of 8,675 miles (or 13,962 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 Shark Bay 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 Shark Bay 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):

• RAF Fairford was constructed in 1944 to serve as an airfield for British and American troop carriers and gliders for the D-Day invasion of Normandy during World War II.
• The closest airport to RAF Fairford (FFD) is RAF Brize Norton (BZZ), which is located only 10 miles (16 kilometers) ENE of FFD.
• On 14 January 2004, the 420th Air Base Group was established at RAF Fairford to improve the control of its geographically separated units that had been aligned beneath the 100th Air Refueling Wing at RAF Mildenhall.
• 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.
• Operations staff and maintenance personnel were permanently assigned, but aircraft, aircrews and crew chiefs were temporarily assigned to the 11th Strategic Group for the European Tanker Task Force on rotation.
• On 15 September 2009, it was announced that the USAF will withdraw all their uniformed staff from the station by September 2010, after which it will be run on a "care and maintenance" basis.

Facts about Shark Bay Airport (MJK):

• The furthest airport from Shark Bay Airport (MJK) is JAGS McCartney International Airport (GDT), which is nearly antipodal to Shark Bay Airport (meaning Shark Bay Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from JAGS McCartney International Airport), and is located 12,008 miles (19,325 kilometers) away in Grand Turk Island, Turks and Caicos Islands.
• The closest airport to Shark Bay Airport (MJK) is Carnarvon Airport (CVQ), which is located 70 miles (113 kilometers) N of MJK.
• Shark Bay Airport (MJK) currently has only 1 runway.
• Because of Shark Bay Airport's relatively low elevation of 111 feet, planes can take off or land at Shark Bay 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.