Nonstop flight route between Lyon, France and Fairford, England, United Kingdom:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Lyon–Saint Exupéry Airport (LYS), Lyon, France and RAF Fairford (FFD), Fairford, England, United Kingdom would travel a Great Circle distance of 517 miles (or 832 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 relatively short distance between Lyon–Saint Exupéry Airport and RAF Fairford, the route shown on this map most likely still appears to be a straight line.

Departure Airport Information:

Arrival Airport Information:

Facts about Lyon–Saint Exupéry Airport (LYS):

• Because of Lyon–Saint Exupéry Airport's relatively low elevation of 821 feet, planes can take off or land at Lyon–Saint Exupéry 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 Lyon–Saint Exupéry Airport (LYS) is Lyon–Bron Airport (LYN), which is located only 7 miles (11 kilometers) W of LYS.
• The airport was originally named Lyon Satolas Airport, but in 2000 the airport and train station were renamed in honour of Lyonnais aviation pioneer and writer Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, on the centenary of his birth.
• Coach links connect the airport with the centre of Lyon and other towns in the area including Chambéry and Grenoble.
• Lyon–Saint Exupéry Airport handled 8,451,039 passengers last year.
• The furthest airport from Lyon–Saint Exupéry Airport (LYS) is Chatham Islands (CHT), which is nearly antipodal to Lyon–Saint Exupéry Airport (meaning Lyon–Saint Exupéry Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Chatham Islands), and is located 12,284 miles (19,770 kilometers) away in Waitangi, Chatham Islands, New Zealand.
• Lyon–Saint Exupéry Airport (LYS) has 2 runways.
• In addition to being known as "Lyon–Saint Exupéry Airport", another name for LYS is "Aéroport Lyon-Saint Exupéry".

Facts about RAF Fairford (FFD):

• The 422nd ABG at RAF Croughton and the 420th Air Base Squadron are responsible for the day-to-day operations of RAF Fairford, ensuring that it has adequate resources.
• The closest airport to RAF Fairford (FFD) is RAF Brize Norton (BZZ), which is located only 10 miles (16 kilometers) ENE of FFD.
• 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.
• In 1950, as a result of the beginning of the Cold War, the airfield was transferred to the U.S.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.