Nonstop flight route between Edinburgh, United Kingdom and Fairford, England, United Kingdom:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Edinburgh Airport (EDI), Edinburgh, United Kingdom and RAF Fairford (FFD), Fairford, England, United Kingdom would travel a Great Circle distance of 302 miles (or 486 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 Edinburgh 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 Edinburgh Airport (EDI):

• A £40m extension to the departure lounge has been built, work commenced in December, 2008.
• In 2013 a further extension to the passenger terminal was announced, taking the terminal building up to the Edinburgh Airport tram stop.
• The furthest airport from Edinburgh Airport (EDI) is Ryan's Creek Aerodrome (SZS), which is located 11,713 miles (18,850 kilometers) away in Stewart Island, New Zealand.
• Because of Edinburgh Airport's relatively low elevation of 136 feet, planes can take off or land at Edinburgh 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.
• Edinburgh Airport handled 9,775,443 passengers last year.
• In 1971 the British Airports Authority took over the airport and immediately started to expand it by constructing a new runway and terminal building.
• The closest airport to Edinburgh Airport (EDI) is Perth Airport (PSL), which is located 34 miles (55 kilometers) N of EDI.
• Although the original main runway 13/31 served the airport well, its alignment had the disadvantage of suffering from severe crosswinds and the other two minor runways were very short and could not be readily extended, so movements were transferred to a new runway in an addition completely outside the original airfield boundary.
• Edinburgh Airport (EDI) has 2 runways.

Facts about RAF Fairford (FFD):

• The closest airport to RAF Fairford (FFD) is RAF Brize Norton (BZZ), which is located only 10 miles (16 kilometers) ENE of FFD.
• RAF Fairford was the only TransOceanic Abort Landing site for NASA's Space Shuttle in the UK.
• 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 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.
• 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.
• KC-135 and KC-10 tankers deployed to Fairford supported Operation El Dorado Canyon against Libya in 1986.