Nonstop flight route between Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Zhanjiang, Guangdong, China:
Departure Airport:
Arrival Airport:
Distance from FFD to ZHA:
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- About this route
- FFD Airport Information
- ZHA Airport Information
- Facts about FFD
- Facts about ZHA
- Map of Nearest Airports to FFD
- List of Nearest Airports to FFD
- Map of Furthest Airports from FFD
- List of Furthest Airports from FFD
- Map of Nearest Airports to ZHA
- List of Nearest Airports to ZHA
- Map of Furthest Airports from ZHA
- List of Furthest Airports from ZHA
About this route:
A direct, nonstop flight between RAF Fairford (FFD), Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Zhanjiang Airport (ZHA), Zhanjiang, Guangdong, China would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,957 miles (or 9,586 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 Zhanjiang 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 Zhanjiang Airport. You'll see that it will travel the same route of the red line on this map!
Departure Airport Information:
IATA / ICAO Codes: | FFD / EGVA |
Airport Name: | RAF Fairford |
Location: | Fairford, England, United Kingdom |
GPS Coordinates: | 51°40'55"N by 1°47'24"W |
Operator/Owner: | Ministry of Defence |
View all routes: | Routes from FFD |
More Information: | FFD Maps & Info |
Arrival Airport Information:
IATA / ICAO Codes: | ZHA / ZGZJ |
Airport Names: |
|
Location: | Zhanjiang, Guangdong, China |
GPS Coordinates: | 21°13'3"N by 110°21'28"E |
Area Served: | Zhanjiang, Guangdong |
Elevation: | 125 feet (38 meters) |
# of Runways: | 1 |
View all routes: | Routes from ZHA |
More Information: | ZHA Maps & Info |
Facts about RAF Fairford (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.
- The runway was completed in 1953, and served as a forward airbase for the first Convair B-36 Peacemaker aircraft from Carswell Air Force Base, Texas.
- 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.
- 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.
- RAF Fairford is also the home of the Royal International Air Tattoo, an annual air display.
- 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.
- The closest airport to RAF Fairford (FFD) is RAF Brize Norton (BZZ), which is located only 10 miles (16 kilometers) ENE of FFD.
Facts about Zhanjiang Airport (ZHA):
- The closest airport to Zhanjiang Airport (ZHA) is Beihai Fucheng Airport (BHY), which is located 72 miles (116 kilometers) WNW of ZHA.
- The furthest airport from Zhanjiang Airport (ZHA) is Diego Aracena International Airport (IQQ), which is nearly antipodal to Zhanjiang Airport (meaning Zhanjiang Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Diego Aracena International Airport), and is located 12,378 miles (19,921 kilometers) away in Iquique, Chile.
- In addition to being known as "Zhanjiang Airport", other names for ZHA include "湛江机场" and "Zhànjiāng Jīchǎng".
- Zhanjiang Airport (ZHA) currently has only 1 runway.
- Zhanjiang Airport handled 488,835 passengers last year.
- Because of Zhanjiang Airport's relatively low elevation of 125 feet, planes can take off or land at Zhanjiang 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.