Nonstop flight route between Oxfordshire, England, United Kingdom and Portland, Maine, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between RAF Brize Norton (BZZ), Oxfordshire, England, United Kingdom and Portland International Jetport (PWM), Portland, Maine, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 3,123 miles (or 5,027 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 Brize Norton and Portland International Jetport, 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 Brize Norton and Portland International Jetport. 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 Brize Norton (BZZ):

• Major infrastructure redevelopment began in 2010 ahead of the closure of RAF Lyneham in 2012, at which point Brize Norton became the sole air point of embarkation for British troops.
• The furthest airport from RAF Brize Norton (BZZ) is Dunedin International Airport (DUD), which is located 11,888 miles (19,132 kilometers) away in Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand.
• The station is home to Air Transport, Air-to-Air refuelling and Military Parachuting, with aircraft operating from the station including the Lockheed C-130 Hercules, Boeing C-17 Globemaster III and Airbus A330 MRTT Voyager which replaced the now decommissioned Lockheed TriStar in March 2014.
• Like many UK military bases RAF Brize Norton has been subject to limited protests by peace demonstrators.
• On 19 September 2005, Brize Norton was closed as part of a major upgrade project.
• By the 1950s Cold War tension was escalating and the United States envisaged stationing nuclear bombers in the United Kingdom as a deterrent to Soviet aggression.
• The closest airport to RAF Brize Norton (BZZ) is RAF Fairford (FFD), which is located only 10 miles (16 kilometers) WSW of BZZ.

Facts about Portland International Jetport (PWM):

• That year regional Air New England began service in Portland, competing with Northeast Airlines intrastate and between Portland and Boston.
• That same year, regional Ransome Airlines, doing business as Delta Connection, began a route between Portland and Boston.
• The furthest airport from Portland International Jetport (PWM) is Margaret River Airport (MGV), which is located 11,705 miles (18,838 kilometers) away in Margaret River, Western Australia, Australia.
• On June 7, 2007 AirTran Airways began seasonal service to Baltimore-Washington, and to Orlando, Florida.
• In 1982 PWM got its first nonstop beyond New York, when Delta tried a 727 to Cincinnati for a year or so.
• Because of Portland International Jetport's relatively low elevation of 76 feet, planes can take off or land at Portland International Jetport 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.
• Portland International Jetport (PWM) has 2 runways.
• Boston-Maine Airways had a monopoly on passenger air travel at Portland, which continued after the airline was renamed Northeast Airlines.
• 1987 saw the arrival of Continental Airlines, when the airline bought PEOPLExpress and took over their routes.
• The closest airport to Portland International Jetport (PWM) is Naval Air Station Brunswick (NHZ), which is located 25 miles (40 kilometers) NE of PWM.