Nonstop flight route between Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Shaoguan, Guangdong, China:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between RAF Fairford (FFD), Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Shaoguan Guitou Airport (HSC), Shaoguan, Guangdong, China would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,854 miles (or 9,421 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 Shaoguan Guitou 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 Shaoguan Guitou 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):

• 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.
• 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.
• KC-135 and KC-10 tankers deployed to Fairford supported Operation El Dorado Canyon against Libya in 1986.
• 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.
• 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 closest airport to RAF Fairford (FFD) is RAF Brize Norton (BZZ), which is located only 10 miles (16 kilometers) ENE of 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.

Facts about Shaoguan Guitou Airport (HSC):

• In addition to being known as "Shaoguan Guitou Airport", other names for HSC include "韶关桂头机场" and "Sháoguān Guìtóu Jīchǎng".
• The furthest airport from Shaoguan Guitou Airport (HSC) is Martín Miguel de Güemes International Airport (SLA), which is nearly antipodal to Shaoguan Guitou Airport (meaning Shaoguan Guitou Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Martín Miguel de Güemes International Airport), and is located 12,367 miles (19,903 kilometers) away in Salta, Salta Province, Argentina.
• The closest airport to Shaoguan Guitou Airport (HSC) is Ganzhou Huangjin Airport (KOW), which is located 104 miles (167 kilometers) NE of HSC.