Nonstop flight route between Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Houston, Texas, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between RAF Fairford (FFD), Fairford, England, United Kingdom and William P. Hobby Airport (HOU), Houston, Texas, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,780 miles (or 7,693 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 William P. Hobby 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 William P. Hobby 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):

• Fairford was chosen in 1969 as the British test centre for the Concorde aircraft, which continued until 1977.
• 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 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 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 closest airport to RAF Fairford (FFD) is RAF Brize Norton (BZZ), which is located only 10 miles (16 kilometers) ENE of FFD.

Facts about William P. Hobby Airport (HOU):

• The April 1957 Official Airline Guide shows 26 weekday departures on Eastern, 20 Braniff, nine Continental, nine Delta, nine Trans-Texas, four National, two Pan American and one American.
• In addition to being known as "William P. Hobby Airport", another name for HOU is "Houston Hobby".
• William P. Hobby Airport (HOU) has 4 runways.
• Because of William P. Hobby Airport's relatively low elevation of 46 feet, planes can take off or land at William P. Hobby 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.
• The furthest airport from William P. Hobby Airport (HOU) is Cocos (Keeling) Island Airport (CCK), which is located 11,002 miles (17,706 kilometers) away in Cocos Islands, Australia.
• In May 2011 Southwest Airlines expressed interest in international flights from Hobby.
• The closest airport to William P. Hobby Airport (HOU) is Ellington Field Joint Reserve BaseEllington Air Force BaseEllington Field (EFD), which is located only 8 miles (12 kilometers) ESE of HOU.
• William P. Hobby Airport handled 9,054,001 passengers last year.
• Developments at Hobby in the 2000s include a new concourse to serve Southwest Airlines, designed by Leo A Daly and the upgrade of Runway 4/22.