Nonstop flight route between Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Abuja, Nigeria:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between RAF Fairford (FFD), Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (ABV), Abuja, Nigeria would travel a Great Circle distance of 2,993 miles (or 4,817 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 Fairford and Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, 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 Fairford and Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport. 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 Fairford (FFD):

• 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.
• Due to RAF Fairford's location and infrastructure, the airfield is designated as a forward operating location for the US Air Force.
• 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.
• 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.
• RAF Fairford is also the home of the Royal International Air Tattoo, an annual air display.

Facts about Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (ABV):

• Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (ABV) currently has only 1 runway.
• The closest airport to Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (ABV) is Minna Airport (MXJ), which is located 70 miles (113 kilometers) NW of ABV.
• The furthest airport from Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (ABV) is Asau Airport (AAU), which is nearly antipodal to Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (meaning Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Asau Airport), and is located 12,126 miles (19,515 kilometers) away in Asau, Samoa.
• Plans were invited for the construction of a second runway.
• Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport handled 618,360 passengers last year.