Nonstop flight route between Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Exmouth, Western Australia, Australia:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between RAF Fairford (FFD), Fairford, England, United Kingdom and RAAF Learmonth (LEA), Exmouth, Western Australia, Australia would travel a Great Circle distance of 8,512 miles (or 13,698 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 RAAF Learmonth, 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 RAAF Learmonth. 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 runway was completed in 1953, and served as a forward airbase for the first Convair B-36 Peacemaker aircraft from Carswell Air Force Base, Texas.
• The closest airport to RAF Fairford (FFD) is RAF Brize Norton (BZZ), which is located only 10 miles (16 kilometers) ENE of FFD.
• 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.
• The 422nd ABG at RAF Croughton and the 420th Air Base Squadron are responsible for the day-to-day operations of RAF Fairford, ensuring that it has adequate resources.
• 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 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 RAAF Learmonth (LEA):

• In addition to being known as "RAAF Learmonth", another name for LEA is "Learmonth Airport".
• The RAAF also operates the Learmonth Air Weapons Range which covers about 18,954 ha and is located 30 km south-west of the airbase.
• RAAF Learmonth handled 90,861 passengers last year.
• On 7 October 2008, Qantas Flight 72 made an emergency landing at RAAF Learmonth.
• Because of RAAF Learmonth's relatively low elevation of 19 feet, planes can take off or land at RAAF Learmonth 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.
• The closest airport to RAAF Learmonth (LEA) is Barrow Island Airport (BWB), which is located 127 miles (204 kilometers) NE of LEA.
• The furthest airport from RAAF Learmonth (LEA) is Fernando Luis Ribas Dominicci Airport (SIG), which is nearly antipodal to RAAF Learmonth (meaning RAAF Learmonth is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Fernando Luis Ribas Dominicci Airport), and is located 12,175 miles (19,594 kilometers) away in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
• RAAF Learmonth (LEA) currently has only 1 runway.