Nonstop flight route between Yan'an, Shaanxi, China and Fairford, England, United Kingdom:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Yan'an Airport (ENY), Yan'an, Shaanxi, China and RAF Fairford (FFD), Fairford, England, United Kingdom would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,066 miles (or 8,152 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 Yan'an 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 Yan'an 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 Yan'an Airport (ENY):

• In addition to being known as "Yan'an Airport", other names for ENY include "延安二十里堡机场" and "Yán'ān Èrshílǐpù Jīchǎng".
• The furthest airport from Yan'an Airport (ENY) is Chos Malal Airport (HOS), which is nearly antipodal to Yan'an Airport (meaning Yan'an Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Chos Malal Airport), and is located 12,380 miles (19,923 kilometers) away in Chos Malal, Neuquén, Argentina.
• The closest airport to Yan'an Airport (ENY) is Lüliang Airport (LLV), which is located 113 miles (183 kilometers) NE of ENY.

Facts about RAF Fairford (FFD):

• 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.
• 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.
• Royal Air Force Fairford or more simply RAF Fairford is a Royal Air Force station in Gloucestershire, England which is currently a standby airfield and therefore not in everyday use.
• The closest airport to RAF Fairford (FFD) is RAF Brize Norton (BZZ), which is located only 10 miles (16 kilometers) ENE of FFD.
• The runway was completed in 1953, and served as a forward airbase for the first Convair B-36 Peacemaker aircraft from Carswell Air Force Base, Texas.
• 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.
• RAF Fairford was the only TransOceanic Abort Landing site for NASA's Space Shuttle in the UK.