Nonstop flight route between Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Funchal, Madeira, Portugal:
Departure Airport:
Arrival Airport:
Distance from FFD to FNC:
Share this route:
Jump to:
- About this route
- FFD Airport Information
- FNC Airport Information
- Facts about FFD
- Facts about FNC
- Map of Nearest Airports to FFD
- List of Nearest Airports to FFD
- Map of Furthest Airports from FFD
- List of Furthest Airports from FFD
- Map of Nearest Airports to FNC
- List of Nearest Airports to FNC
- Map of Furthest Airports from FNC
- List of Furthest Airports from FNC
About this route:
A direct, nonstop flight between RAF Fairford (FFD), Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Madeira Airport (FNC), Funchal, Madeira, Portugal would travel a Great Circle distance of 1,513 miles (or 2,435 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 relatively short distance between RAF Fairford and Madeira Airport, the route shown on this map most likely still appears to be a straight line.
Departure Airport Information:
IATA / ICAO Codes: | FFD / EGVA |
Airport Name: | RAF Fairford |
Location: | Fairford, England, United Kingdom |
GPS Coordinates: | 51°40'55"N by 1°47'24"W |
Operator/Owner: | Ministry of Defence |
View all routes: | Routes from FFD |
More Information: | FFD Maps & Info |
Arrival Airport Information:
IATA / ICAO Codes: | FNC / LPMA |
Airport Names: |
|
Location: | Funchal, Madeira, Portugal |
GPS Coordinates: | 32°41'39"N by 16°46'41"W |
Area Served: | Funchal |
Operator/Owner: | Aeroportos da Madeira |
Airport Type: | Public |
Elevation: | 190 feet (58 meters) |
# of Runways: | 1 |
View all routes: | Routes from FNC |
More Information: | FNC Maps & Info |
Facts about RAF Fairford (FFD):
- The 422nd ABG at RAF Croughton and the 420th Air Base Squadron are responsible for the day-to-day operations of RAF Fairford, ensuring that it has adequate resources.
- 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.
- KC-135 and KC-10 tankers deployed to Fairford supported Operation El Dorado Canyon against Libya in 1986.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
Facts about Madeira Airport (FNC):
- The closest airport to Madeira Airport (FNC) is Porto Santo Airport (PXO), which is located 36 miles (58 kilometers) NE of FNC.
- Madeira Airport handled 2,311,380 passengers last year.
- The History Channel program Most Extreme Airports ranked it as the 9th most dangerous airport in the world, and the second most dangerous in Europe after Gibraltar International Airport.
- In addition to being known as "Madeira Airport", another name for FNC is "Aeroporto da Madeira".
- The furthest airport from Madeira Airport (FNC) is Lord Howe Island Airport (LDH), which is nearly antipodal to Madeira Airport (meaning Madeira Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Lord Howe Island Airport), and is located 12,181 miles (19,604 kilometers) away in Lord Howe Island, New South Wales, Australia.
- Madeira Airport (FNC) currently has only 1 runway.
- Madeira Airport was officially opened on 18 July 1964, with two 1,600 m runways.
- In 2000, the runway was again extended this time to 2,781 m almost doubling the size of the original runway.
- Because of Madeira Airport's relatively low elevation of 190 feet, planes can take off or land at Madeira 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.