Nonstop flight route between Christmas Island, Kiribati and Fairford, England, United Kingdom:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Cassidy International Airport (CXI), Christmas Island, Kiribati and RAF Fairford (FFD), Fairford, England, United Kingdom would travel a Great Circle distance of 8,462 miles (or 13,619 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 Cassidy International 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 Cassidy International 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 Cassidy International Airport (CXI):

• On 29 August 2008, Air Pacific announced they would suspend flights operating the airport from 2 September 2008.
• Cassidy International Airport (CXI) currently has only 1 runway.
• The furthest airport from Cassidy International Airport (CXI) is Ikela Airport (IKL), which is nearly antipodal to Cassidy International Airport (meaning Cassidy International Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Ikela Airport), and is located 12,367 miles (19,903 kilometers) away in Ikela, Democratic Republic of the Congo.
• Because of Cassidy International Airport's relatively low elevation of 5 feet, planes can take off or land at Cassidy International 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.
• During World War II, the United States Army Air Forces Air Transport Command used the airport as a refuelling stop on its Pacific transport route from Hawaii to Kanton Island for flights to Australia and New Zealand as well as a staging point for attacks on the Gilbert Islands, then occupied by Japan.
• The closest airport to Cassidy International Airport (CXI) is Manihiki Island Airport (MHX), which is located 891 miles (1,433 kilometers) SSW of CXI.

Facts about RAF Fairford (FFD):

• In 1950, as a result of the beginning of the Cold War, the airfield was transferred to the U.S.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.