Nonstop flight route between Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Nyingchi, Tibet Autonomous Region, China:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between RAF Fairford (FFD), Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Nyingchi Mainling Airport (LZY), Nyingchi, Tibet Autonomous Region, China would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,903 miles (or 7,890 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 Nyingchi Mainling 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 Nyingchi Mainling 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 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.
• RAF Fairford is also the home of the Royal International Air Tattoo, an annual air display.
• 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 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.
• 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.
• RAF Fairford was the only TransOceanic Abort Landing site for NASA's Space Shuttle 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 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.
• 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.

Facts about Nyingchi Mainling Airport (LZY):

• Because of Nyingchi Mainling Airport's high elevation of 9,675 feet, planes must typically fly at a faster airspeed in order to takeoff or land at LZY. Combined with a high temperature, this could make LZY a "Hot & High" airport, where the air density is lower than it would otherwise be at sea level.
• The closest airport to Nyingchi Mainling Airport (LZY) is Along Airport (IXV), which is located 83 miles (133 kilometers) SSE of LZY.
• In addition to being known as "Nyingchi Mainling Airport", other names for LZY include "林芝米林机场" and "Línzhī Mǐlín Jīchǎng".
• Nyingchi Mainling Airport (LZY) currently has only 1 runway.
• The furthest airport from Nyingchi Mainling Airport (LZY) is La Florida Airport (LSC), which is located 11,567 miles (18,616 kilometers) away in La Serena, Chile.
• Known as one of the world's most difficult airports for aircraft to reach, Nyingchi Airport is situated in the valley of the Yarlung Tsangpo River in the Southeast of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, surrounded by over-4,000 metres -high mountains enveloped by clouds and fog throughout the year.