Nonstop flight route between Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Nouméa, New Caledonia:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between RAF Fairford (FFD), Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Nouméa Magenta Airport (GEA), Nouméa, New Caledonia would travel a Great Circle distance of 10,309 miles (or 16,591 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 Nouméa Magenta 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 Nouméa Magenta 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 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.
• In the early years of the Cold War the British and American governments reached an agreement under which elements of the USAF Strategic Air Command would be based in the UK.
• 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.
• 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 closest airport to RAF Fairford (FFD) is RAF Brize Norton (BZZ), which is located only 10 miles (16 kilometers) ENE of FFD.

Facts about Nouméa Magenta Airport (GEA):

• In addition to being known as "Nouméa Magenta Airport", another name for GEA is "l'Aéroport de Nouméa Magenta".
• The closest airport to Nouméa Magenta Airport (GEA) is Tontouta International Airport (NOU), which is located 23 miles (38 kilometers) NW of GEA.
• Because of Nouméa Magenta Airport's relatively low elevation of 33 feet, planes can take off or land at Nouméa Magenta 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.
• Nouméa Magenta Airport (GEA) currently has only 1 runway.
• The furthest airport from Nouméa Magenta Airport (GEA) is Fderik Airport (FGD), which is nearly antipodal to Nouméa Magenta Airport (meaning Nouméa Magenta Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Fderik Airport), and is located 12,379 miles (19,922 kilometers) away in Fderik, Mauritania.