Nonstop flight route between Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Doha, Qatar:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between RAF Fairford (FFD), Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Al-Udeid Air Base (IUD), Doha, Qatar would travel a Great Circle distance of 3,311 miles (or 5,329 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 Al-Udeid Air Base, 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 Al-Udeid Air Base. 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):

• 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.
• 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.
• Fairford was chosen in 1969 as the British test centre for the Concorde aircraft, which continued until 1977.
• The closest airport to RAF Fairford (FFD) is RAF Brize Norton (BZZ), which is located only 10 miles (16 kilometers) ENE of FFD.
• RAF Fairford is also the home of the Royal International Air Tattoo, an annual air display.
• 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.

Facts about Al-Udeid Air Base (IUD):

• In addition to being known as "Al-Udeid Air Base", other names for IUD include "قاعدة العديد الجوية" and "XJD".
• Following Australia's formal withdraw of forces from Iraq and to upon Afghanistan in 2008, the air bridge for operations in the Middle East was re-located to Al Minhad Air Base in the United Arab Emirates.
• Al-Udeid Air Base (IUD) currently has only 1 runway.
• Al Udeid Air Base is a military base west of Doha, Qatar, also known as Abu Nakhlah Airport.
• The Al Udeid Air Base now serves as a logistics, command, and basing hub for U.S.
• Qatar invested over $US1 billion to construct the Al Udeid air base south of Doha during the 1990s.
• From FY2003 to FY2007, Congress authorized and appropriated $126 million for U.S.
• The Administration’s FY2011 military construction request for Qatar was $64.3 million, for Air Force facilities and a National Security Agency warehouse.
• The closest airport to Al-Udeid Air Base (IUD) is Hamad International Airport (DOH), which is located 21 miles (34 kilometers) ENE of IUD.
• The furthest airport from Al-Udeid Air Base (IUD) is Totegegie Airport (GMR), which is nearly antipodal to Al-Udeid Air Base (meaning Al-Udeid Air Base is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Totegegie Airport), and is located 12,021 miles (19,346 kilometers) away in Mangareva, Gambier Islands, French Polynesia.
• Because of Al-Udeid Air Base's relatively low elevation of 130 feet, planes can take off or land at Al-Udeid Air Base 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.