Nonstop flight route between Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Kigali, Rwanda:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between RAF Fairford (FFD), Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Kigali International Airport (KGL), Kigali, Rwanda would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,150 miles (or 6,679 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 Kigali 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 Kigali 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):

• 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.
• KC-135 and KC-10 tankers deployed to Fairford supported Operation El Dorado Canyon against Libya in 1986.
• RAF Fairford was the only TransOceanic Abort Landing site for NASA's Space Shuttle in the UK.
• Operations staff and maintenance personnel were permanently assigned, but aircraft, aircrews and crew chiefs were temporarily assigned to the 11th Strategic Group for the European Tanker Task Force on rotation.
• 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.

Facts about Kigali International Airport (KGL):

• Kigali International Airport (KGL) currently has only 1 runway.
• Because of Kigali International Airport's high elevation of 4,891 feet, planes must typically fly at a faster airspeed in order to takeoff or land at KGL. Combined with a high temperature, this could make KGL a "Hot & High" airport, where the air density is lower than it would otherwise be at sea level.
• There are plans to replace the current airport with a new one located south of Kigali on the south side of the Nyabarongo River in Bugesera.
• The airport is located in the suburb of Kanombe, at the eastern edge of Kigali, approximately 14 kilometres, by road, east of the central business district of the city of Kigali.
• The closest airport to Kigali International Airport (KGL) is Kirundo Airport (KRE), which is located 40 miles (65 kilometers) S of KGL.
• The furthest airport from Kigali International Airport (KGL) is Cassidy International Airport (CXI), which is located 11,920 miles (19,183 kilometers) away in Christmas Island, Kiribati.