Nonstop flight route between Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Dubai, United Arab Emirates:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between RAF Fairford (FFD), Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Dubai International Airport (DXB), Dubai, United Arab Emirates would travel a Great Circle distance of 3,475 miles (or 5,592 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 Dubai 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 Dubai 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):

• On 12 May 2005, USAFE activated the 501st Combat Support Wing, with headquarters at RAF Alconbury, to provide support to its GSUs in the United Kingdom.
• 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.
• The closest airport to RAF Fairford (FFD) is RAF Brize Norton (BZZ), which is located only 10 miles (16 kilometers) ENE of FFD.
• 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.
• 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 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.
• 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 Dubai International Airport (DXB):

• Construction of Terminal 3 began in 2004 as the next stage of phase 2 of the development, with an estimated cost of around $4.55 billion.
• The new precision category 2 Approach and Runway Lighting System was commissioned.
• Dubai International Airport handled 66,431,533 passengers last year.
• In addition to being known as "Dubai International Airport", another name for DXB is "مطار دبي الدولي".
• Because of Dubai International Airport's relatively low elevation of 62 feet, planes can take off or land at Dubai International 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.
• Dubai International Airport (DXB) has 2 runways.
• The closest airport to Dubai International Airport (DXB) is Sharjah International Airport (SHJ), which is located only 11 miles (17 kilometers) ENE of DXB.
• Dubai International is an important contributor to the Dubai economy, employing approximately 58,000 people, and indirectly supports over 250,000 jobs in Dubai and contributes over US$22 billion to the GDP, which represents around 19 per cent of total employment in Dubai, and 28 per cent of Dubai’s GDP.
• The furthest airport from Dubai International Airport (DXB) is Totegegie Airport (GMR), which is located 11,774 miles (18,948 kilometers) away in Mangareva, Gambier Islands, French Polynesia.
• The proposed 52 km Purple Line will link Dubai International Airport and Al Maktoum International Airport, which is currently being built at Jebel Ali.