Nonstop flight route between Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Ipiales, Colombia:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between RAF Fairford (FFD), Fairford, England, United Kingdom and San Luis Airport (IPI), Ipiales, Colombia would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,570 miles (or 8,964 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 San Luis 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 San Luis 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):

• 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.
• 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.
• RAF Fairford is also the home of the Royal International Air Tattoo, an annual air display.
• 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.
• 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 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 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.

Facts about San Luis Airport (IPI):

• In addition to being known as "San Luis Airport", another name for IPI is "Aeropuerto San Luis".
• San Luis Airport (IPI) currently has only 1 runway.
• The closest airport to San Luis Airport (IPI) is Teniente Coronel Luis A Mantilla International Airport (TUA), which is located only 4 miles (7 kilometers) SW of IPI.
• The furthest airport from San Luis Airport (IPI) is Depati Parbo Airport (KRC), which is nearly antipodal to San Luis Airport (meaning San Luis Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Depati Parbo Airport), and is located 12,333 miles (19,848 kilometers) away in Kerinci, Indonesia.
• Because of San Luis Airport's high elevation of 9,765 feet, planes must typically fly at a faster airspeed in order to takeoff or land at IPI. Combined with a high temperature, this could make IPI a "Hot & High" airport, where the air density is lower than it would otherwise be at sea level.