Nonstop flight route between Fairford, England, United Kingdom and North Platte, Nebraska, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between RAF Fairford (FFD), Fairford, England, United Kingdom and North Platte Regional Airport (LBF), North Platte, Nebraska, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,398 miles (or 7,078 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 North Platte Regional 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 North Platte Regional 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.
• RAF Fairford was the only TransOceanic Abort Landing site for NASA's Space Shuttle in the UK.
• 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.
• The closest airport to RAF Fairford (FFD) is RAF Brize Norton (BZZ), which is located only 10 miles (16 kilometers) ENE of FFD.
• In 1950, as a result of the beginning of the Cold War, the airfield was transferred to the U.S.
• 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.
• KC-135 and KC-10 tankers deployed to Fairford supported Operation El Dorado Canyon against Libya in 1986.
• On 12 May 2005, USAFE activated the 501st Combat Support Wing, with headquarters at RAF Alconbury, to provide support to its GSUs in the United Kingdom.
• 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.

Facts about North Platte Regional Airport (LBF):

• North Platte Regional Airport (LBF) has 2 runways.
• Federal Aviation Administration says the airport had 10,288 passenger enplanements in calendar year 2008, 7,924 enplanements in 2009, and 8,391 in 2010.
• The furthest airport from North Platte Regional Airport (LBF) is Sir Gaëtan Duval Airport (RRG), which is located 10,687 miles (17,200 kilometers) away in Rodrigues Island, Mauritius.
• In 1929 the City of North Platte purchased the airfield and leased it to the Boeing Transport Company, an original part of United Airlines.
• The closest airport to North Platte Regional Airport (LBF) is Jim Kelly Field (LXN), which is located 53 miles (85 kilometers) ESE of LBF.
• United Airlines stopped at North Platte from the 1930s until Frontier took over in 1959.
• In addition to being known as "North Platte Regional Airport", another name for LBF is "Lee Bird Field".