Nonstop flight route between Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between RAF Fairford (FFD), Fairford, England, United Kingdom and O. R. Tambo International Airport (JNB), Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,677 miles (or 9,137 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 O. R. Tambo 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 O. R. Tambo International 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):

• 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 closest airport to RAF Fairford (FFD) is RAF Brize Norton (BZZ), which is located only 10 miles (16 kilometers) ENE of 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• Fairford was chosen in 1969 as the British test centre for the Concorde aircraft, which continued until 1977.

Facts about O. R. Tambo International Airport (JNB):

• On 26 November 2006, the airport became the first in Africa to host the Airbus A380.
• O. R. Tambo International Airport handled 18,794,897 passengers last year.
• The airport was founded in 1952 as "Jan Smuts Airport", two years after his death, near the town of Kempton Park on the East Rand.
• O. R. Tambo International Airport (JNB) has 2 runways.
• The furthest airport from O. R. Tambo International Airport (JNB) is Hana Airport (HNM), which is located 11,979 miles (19,279 kilometers) away in Hana, Hawaii, United States.
• Airports Company South Africa reported that major new developments took place at the airport, in preparation for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
• In addition to being known as "O. R. Tambo International Airport", another name for JNB is "Johannesburg International Airport".
• The closest airport to O. R. Tambo International Airport (JNB) is Rand Airport (QRA), which is located only 9 miles (15 kilometers) SW of JNB.
• Because of O. R. Tambo International Airport's high elevation of 5,558 feet, planes must typically fly at a faster airspeed in order to takeoff or land at JNB. Combined with a high temperature, this could make JNB a "Hot & High" airport, where the air density is lower than it would otherwise be at sea level.
• On 10 January 2013 the airport's ICAO code was changed from FAJS to FAOR.
• In November 2009 Air France announced the scheduled flights of their Airbus A380 into Johannesburg's O.R.
• Unnecessary confusion can be caused, for O.