Nonstop flight route between Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Lorient, France:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between RAF Fairford (FFD), Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Lorient South Brittany Airport (LRT), Lorient, France would travel a Great Circle distance of 281 miles (or 452 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 relatively short distance between RAF Fairford and Lorient South Brittany Airport, the route shown on this map most likely still appears to be a straight line.

Departure Airport Information:

Arrival Airport Information:

Facts about RAF Fairford (FFD):

• The closest airport to RAF Fairford (FFD) is RAF Brize Norton (BZZ), which is located only 10 miles (16 kilometers) ENE of FFD.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• RAF Fairford was constructed in 1944 to serve as an airfield for British and American troop carriers and gliders for the D-Day invasion of Normandy during World War II.
• 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.
• Fairford was chosen in 1969 as the British test centre for the Concorde aircraft, which continued until 1977.

Facts about Lorient South Brittany Airport (LRT):

• The furthest airport from Lorient South Brittany Airport (LRT) is Oamaru Airport (OAM), which is nearly antipodal to Lorient South Brittany Airport (meaning Lorient South Brittany Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Oamaru Airport), and is located 12,112 miles (19,493 kilometers) away in Oamaru, North Otago, New Zealand.
• Lorient South Brittany Airport (LRT) has 2 runways.
• These units also form the airwing which is assigned to the aircraft carrier "Charles de Gaulle".
• In addition to being known as "Lorient South Brittany Airport", another name for LRT is "Aéroport de Lorient Bretagne Sud".
• The airport is comparatively large, 3 km by 3 km, which is due to its being built during the Second World War to support German submarine operations from the nearby base in Lorient.
• The closest airport to Lorient South Brittany Airport (LRT) is Meucon Airport (VNE), which is located 33 miles (54 kilometers) E of LRT.
• Because of Lorient South Brittany Airport's relatively low elevation of 160 feet, planes can take off or land at Lorient South Brittany Airport 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.