Nonstop flight route between Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Jinchang, Gansu, China:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between RAF Fairford (FFD), Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Jinchang Jinchuan Airport (JIC), Jinchang, Gansu, China would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,716 miles (or 7,590 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 Jinchang Jinchuan 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 Jinchang Jinchuan 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):

• Royal Air Force Fairford or more simply RAF Fairford is a Royal Air Force station in Gloucestershire, England which is currently a standby airfield and therefore not in everyday use.
• 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.
• RAF Lyneham's position as the primary tactical transport base for the RAF was emphasised in February 1971 when Nos.
• 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.
• 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 Jinchang Jinchuan Airport (JIC):

• Jinchang Jinchuan Airport (JIC) currently has only 1 runway.
• The closest airport to Jinchang Jinchuan Airport (JIC) is Alxa Right Banner Badanjilin Airport (RHT), which is located 60 miles (96 kilometers) NW of JIC.
• In addition to being known as "Jinchang Jinchuan Airport", other names for JIC include "金昌金川机场" and "Jīnchāng Jīnchuān Jīchǎng".
• The furthest airport from Jinchang Jinchuan Airport (JIC) is Pichoy Airport (ZAL), which is nearly antipodal to Jinchang Jinchuan Airport (meaning Jinchang Jinchuan Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Pichoy Airport), and is located 12,180 miles (19,602 kilometers) away in Valdivia, Chile.