Nonstop flight route between Belleville, Illinois, United States and Fairford, England, United Kingdom:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between MidAmerica St. Louis Airport (BLV), Belleville, Illinois, United States and RAF Fairford (FFD), Fairford, England, United Kingdom would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,121 miles (or 6,632 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 MidAmerica St. Louis Airport and RAF Fairford, 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 MidAmerica St. Louis Airport and RAF Fairford. 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 MidAmerica St. Louis Airport (BLV):

• The furthest airport from MidAmerica St. Louis Airport (BLV) is Margaret River Airport (MGV), which is located 11,016 miles (17,728 kilometers) away in Margaret River, Western Australia, Australia.
• As per Federal Aviation Administration records, the airport had 27,002 passenger boardings in calendar year 2008, 1,964 enplanements in 2009, and 1,183 in 2010.
• MidAmerica's construction has included creation of the 10,000-foot 14L/32R runway, adding 1,000 feet to the existing west runway, adding passenger and cargo terminals on the east side of the facility and a 7,000-foot taxiway connecting the two runways.
• Five MetroBus lines serve Scott Air Force Base via Shiloh–Scott station.
• In addition to being known as "MidAmerica St. Louis Airport", another name for BLV is "Scott Air Force Base".
• MidAmerica St. Louis Airport (BLV) has 2 runways.
• The closest airport to MidAmerica St. Louis Airport (BLV) is St. Louis Downtown Airport (CPS), which is located only 17 miles (28 kilometers) W of BLV.
• Both Boeing Aerospace and Northbay Produce currently have facilities on site.
• Because of MidAmerica St. Louis Airport's relatively low elevation of 459 feet, planes can take off or land at MidAmerica St. Louis 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.

Facts about RAF Fairford (FFD):

• Due to RAF Fairford's location and infrastructure, the airfield is designated as a forward operating location for the US Air Force.
• In 1950, as a result of the beginning of the Cold War, the airfield was transferred to the U.S.
• The closest airport to RAF Fairford (FFD) is RAF Brize Norton (BZZ), which is located only 10 miles (16 kilometers) ENE of 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.
• 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 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.