Nonstop flight route between Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Mandalay, Myanmar (Burma):

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between RAF Fairford (FFD), Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Mandalay International Airport (MDL), Mandalay, Myanmar (Burma) would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,372 miles (or 8,645 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 Mandalay 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 Mandalay 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):

• RAF Fairford was the only TransOceanic Abort Landing site for NASA's Space Shuttle in the UK.
• In 1950, as a result of the beginning of the Cold War, the airfield was transferred to the U.S.
• The closest airport to RAF Fairford (FFD) is RAF Brize Norton (BZZ), which is located only 10 miles (16 kilometers) ENE of 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• KC-135 and KC-10 tankers deployed to Fairford supported Operation El Dorado Canyon against Libya in 1986.

Facts about Mandalay International Airport (MDL):

• The closest airport to Mandalay International Airport (MDL) is Nyaung U International Airport (NYU), which is located 76 miles (123 kilometers) WSW of MDL.
• Because of Mandalay International Airport's relatively low elevation of 300 feet, planes can take off or land at Mandalay International 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.
• The furthest airport from Mandalay International Airport (MDL) is Capitán FAP Renán Elías Olivera International Airport (PIO), which is located 11,685 miles (18,805 kilometers) away in Pisco, Peru.
• Mandalay International Airport (MDL) currently has only 1 runway.
• The Mandalay International Airport project was first conceived by the Burmese military government in the mid 1990s as a way to increase overall levels of foreign investment and tourism in Burma.
• In addition to being known as "Mandalay International Airport", another name for MDL is "မန္တလေး အပြည်ပြည်ဆိုင်ရာ လေဆိပ်".
• Mandalay International Airport handled 500,000 passengers last year.