Nonstop flight route between Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Hambantota, Sri Lanka:
Departure Airport:
Arrival Airport:
Distance from FFD to HRI:
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- About this route
- FFD Airport Information
- HRI Airport Information
- Facts about FFD
- Facts about HRI
- 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 HRI
- List of Nearest Airports to HRI
- Map of Furthest Airports from HRI
- List of Furthest Airports from HRI
About this route:
A direct, nonstop flight between RAF Fairford (FFD), Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport (HRI), Hambantota, Sri Lanka would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,574 miles (or 8,971 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 Mattala Rajapaksa 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 Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport. You'll see that it will travel the same route of the red line on this map!
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: | HRI / VCRI |
Airport Names: |
|
Location: | Hambantota, Sri Lanka |
GPS Coordinates: | 6°17'20"N by 81°7'24"E |
Area Served: | Hambantota |
Operator/Owner: | Sri Lankan Government |
Airport Type: | Public |
Elevation: | 157 feet (48 meters) |
# of Runways: | 1 |
View all routes: | Routes from HRI |
More Information: | HRI Maps & Info |
Facts about RAF Fairford (FFD):
- 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.
- RAF Lyneham's position as the primary tactical transport base for the RAF was emphasised in February 1971 when Nos.
- 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.
- 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 closest airport to RAF Fairford (FFD) is RAF Brize Norton (BZZ), which is located only 10 miles (16 kilometers) ENE of FFD.
Facts about Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport (HRI):
- The numbers given to the airport's sole runway is 05 and 23.
- On 16 October 2012, a Hawker Beechcraft B200 King Air registered AP-CAB, belonging to the Civil Aviation Authority of Pakistan landed on runway 23 at 12.38 PM local time becoming the first aircraft to land at the new airport as requested by the Rajapaksa regime.
- The terminal building will be of area 12,000m2 with the capacity to handle 1,000,000 passengers per annum.
- Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport (HRI) currently has only 1 runway.
- Because of Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport's relatively low elevation of 157 feet, planes can take off or land at Mattala Rajapaksa 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.
- The airport was declared open by the President of Sri Lanka, Mahinda Rajapaksa, on 18 March 2013 and commenced operations with the landing of a SriLankan Airlines special Airbus A340 flight named 'City of Magam Ruhunupura' with the President on board.
- In addition to being known as "Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport", another name for HRI is "මත්තල රාජපක්ෂ ජාත්යන්තර ගුවන්තොටුපළமத்தல ராஜபக்ஷ பன்னாட்டு விமான நிலையம்".
- The furthest airport from Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport (HRI) is Seymour Airport (GPS), which is located 11,719 miles (18,860 kilometers) away in Baltra Island, Galápagos Islands, Ecuador.
- The closest airport to Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport (HRI) is Weerawila Airport (WRZ), which is located only 8 miles (13 kilometers) ESE of HRI.
- It was initially planned to build an international airport serving the south of Sri Lanka at Weerawila, but the plans were scrapped due to environmental concerns.
- This project will have two phases, with the first phase expected to be completed by the end of October 2012.
- The new international airport is expected to expand the local aviation industry whilst being a catalyst for the country's economic development enabling international trade, tourism, vocational training and employment.