Nonstop flight route between Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Nantucket, Massachusetts, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between RAF Fairford (FFD), Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Nantucket Memorial Airport (ACK), Nantucket, Massachusetts, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 3,204 miles (or 5,157 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 Nantucket Memorial 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 Nantucket Memorial 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):

• 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.
• 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.
• 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 closest airport to RAF Fairford (FFD) is RAF Brize Norton (BZZ), which is located only 10 miles (16 kilometers) ENE of FFD.
• In 1950, as a result of the beginning of the Cold War, the airfield was transferred to the U.S.
• 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 constructed in 1944 to serve as an airfield for British and American troop carriers and gliders for the D-Day invasion of Normandy during World War II.

Facts about Nantucket Memorial Airport (ACK):

• The furthest airport from Nantucket Memorial Airport (ACK) is Margaret River Airport (MGV), which is located 11,858 miles (19,083 kilometers) away in Margaret River, Western Australia, Australia.
• In the late 1930s, a man named Holm began allowing the Town of Nantucket to use fields on his property as an airfield.
• Up through the 1990s, a variety of other carriers served the airport, some of which used jet airliners as large as McDonnell Douglas DC-9s.
• Nantucket Memorial Airport (ACK) has 3 runways.
• The closest airport to Nantucket Memorial Airport (ACK) is Marthas Vineyard Airport (MVY), which is located 30 miles (49 kilometers) WNW of ACK.
• Because of Nantucket Memorial Airport's relatively low elevation of 48 feet, planes can take off or land at Nantucket Memorial 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.