Nonstop flight route between Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Chiang Rai, Thailand:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between RAF Fairford (FFD), Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Chiang Rai International Airport (CEI), Chiang Rai, Thailand would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,623 miles (or 9,049 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 Chiang Rai 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 Chiang Rai 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):

• 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.
• 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.
• The closest airport to RAF Fairford (FFD) is RAF Brize Norton (BZZ), which is located only 10 miles (16 kilometers) ENE of FFD.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• RAF Fairford is also the home of the Royal International Air Tattoo, an annual air display.
• 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.

Facts about Chiang Rai International Airport (CEI):

• The closest airport to Chiang Rai International Airport (CEI) is Tachilek Airport (THL), which is located 37 miles (59 kilometers) N of CEI.
• Chiang Rai International Airport (CEI) currently has only 1 runway.
• The furthest airport from Chiang Rai International Airport (CEI) is Maria Reiche Neuman Airport (NZC), which is located 11,947 miles (19,227 kilometers) away in Nazca, Ica Region, Peru.
• The airport handles over 800,000 passengers, 5,800 aircraft movements and 3,700 tons of cargo.
• In addition to being known as "Chiang Rai International Airport", another name for CEI is "ท่าอากาศยานแม่ฟ้าหลวง เชียงราย".
• Mae Fah Luang–Chiang Rai International Airport is located in the city of Chiang Rai in northern Thailand.
• Chiang Rai International Airport handled 1,053,863 passengers last year.