Nonstop flight route between Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Hechi, Guangxi, China:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between RAF Fairford (FFD), Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Hechi Jinchengjiang Airport (HCJ), Hechi, Guangxi, China would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,658 miles (or 9,106 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 Hechi Jinchengjiang 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 Hechi Jinchengjiang 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 closest airport to RAF Fairford (FFD) is RAF Brize Norton (BZZ), which is located only 10 miles (16 kilometers) ENE of 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.
• 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.
• RAF Fairford was the only TransOceanic Abort Landing site for NASA's Space Shuttle in the UK.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• KC-135 and KC-10 tankers deployed to Fairford supported Operation El Dorado Canyon against Libya in 1986.

Facts about Hechi Jinchengjiang Airport (HCJ):

• The furthest airport from Hechi Jinchengjiang Airport (HCJ) is Andrés Sabella Gálvez International Airport (former Cerro Moreno International Airport) (ANF), which is nearly antipodal to Hechi Jinchengjiang Airport (meaning Hechi Jinchengjiang Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Andrés Sabella Gálvez International Airport (former Cerro Moreno International Airport)), and is located 12,288 miles (19,775 kilometers) away in Antofagasta, Chile.
• The closest airport to Hechi Jinchengjiang Airport (HCJ) is Libo Airport (LLB), which is located 49 miles (79 kilometers) NNE of HCJ.
• In addition to being known as "Hechi Jinchengjiang Airport", other names for HCJ include "河池金城江机场" and "Héchí Jīnchéngjiāng Jīchǎng".