Nonstop flight route between Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Beaumont/Port Arthur, Texas, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between RAF Fairford (FFD), Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Jack Brooks Regional Airport (BPT), Beaumont/Port Arthur, Texas, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,715 miles (or 7,587 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 Jack Brooks Regional 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 Jack Brooks Regional 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):

• RAF Fairford was the only TransOceanic Abort Landing site for NASA's Space Shuttle in the UK.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• In 1950, as a result of the beginning of the Cold War, the airfield was transferred to the U.S.
• 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.

Facts about Jack Brooks Regional Airport (BPT):

• Currently, ground transportation is provided by United Express bus service to Houston Intercontinental Airport several times a day.
• Because of Jack Brooks Regional Airport's relatively low elevation of 15 feet, planes can take off or land at Jack Brooks Regional 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.
• Jack Brooks Regional Airport, formerly Southeast Texas Regional Airport, is a public airport located near Port Arthur, Texas, United States, nine miles southeast of the central business district of Beaumont and northeast of Port Arthur.
• Jack Brooks Regional Airport (BPT) has 2 runways.
• The closest airport to Jack Brooks Regional Airport (BPT) is Beaumont Municipal Airport (BMT), which is located only 14 miles (23 kilometers) NW of BPT.
• The airport also had scheduled passenger jet service provided by no less than six airlines at different times over the years.
• The furthest airport from Jack Brooks Regional Airport (BPT) is Cocos (Keeling) Island Airport (CCK), which is located 11,026 miles (17,745 kilometers) away in Cocos Islands, Australia.